Idiosyncratic Thoughts of an Unheeded Prophetess

The Space Between

2011-11-06T03:01:00.003-05:00

Disclaimer: I love supporting local talent. However, I only support local talent that I truly believe is great.... not by local standards, but by national standards. Or my standards. Which isn't always the same thing. Bottom line, I will only support and endorse talent that I would have no problem telling a friend in D.C., or California, or Minnesota, to check out. So, with that said.......


Click here to experience and download some great music

Bashiri Asad.....The Space Between. I have been a fan of Bashiri for some time now. I used to work across the street from the City Market where occasionally he and Xenobia Green would perform, and right before lunch time I could hear the music from across the street and immediately say "Ah, Bashiri is performing today!" He is truly an Indianapolis gem. He performs some amazing covers (because Indianapolis loves their cover performances) but his original work is equally impressive. I was lucky enough to give a copy of his latest project, The Space Between, and have been thoroughly impressed. This is definitely a CD that will stay in my car stereo and playing on my computer at work.

If you are a fan of R&B, or soul, or neo-soul, or good music, or LOVE..... check out where love is really found......The Space Between.

Find Bahiri Asad here:
Web: Bashiri Asad
Twitter: @Bashiri08
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bashiri.asad

My UPDATED Dating Personality

2011-08-10T23:16:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I took the highly entertaining, yet eerily accurate, OK Cupid Dating Persona Test, consisting of 32 "dating types" possible (16 male and 16 female) based on a 4 factor combination (Random vs. Deliberate, Gentle vs. Brutal, Sex vs. Love, Master vs. Dreamer). My result back then: The Playstation (Random Gentle Sex Master). Admittedly, I was simultaneously in a very bad, but very fun, place. My overarching mentality was "fuckit". And my dating personality definitely reflected that.

Fast forward three years. I decided to take the Dating Personality Test again to see just where I am now. And the results are...... *drumroll please*

The Peach

Random Gentle Love Master (RGLM)

"Playful, kind, and well-loved, you are The Peach.

For such a warm-hearted, generous person, you’re surprisingly experienced in both love and sex. We credit your spontaneous side; you tend to live in the moment, and you don’t get bogged down by inhibitions like most women your age. If you see something wonderful, you confidently embrace it.

You are a fun flirt and an instant sweetheart, but our guess is you’re becoming more selective about long-term love. It’s getting tougher for you to become permanently attached; and a guy who’s in a different place emotionally might misunderstand your early enthusiasm. You can wreck someone simply by enjoying him.

Your ideal mate is adventurous and giving, like you. But not overly intense."

Your exact female opposite:

The Nymph - Deliberate Brutal Sex Dreamer

Consider:

The Loverboy (RGLM)

The Playboy (RGSM)

The Boy Next Door (RGLD)

Always Avoid:

The False Messiah (DBLM)

I am pretty pleased with the result. I went from a Random Gentle Sex Master to Random Gentle Love Master. I know that I have evolved over the years, but I was somewhat worried that I had changed way too much, gone "soft." Apparently, not so. I am still the same fun-loving, spontaneous, free-spirited person, but with one very important change: "you’re becoming more selective about long-term love." Being a Playstation was fun, life as a Peach is much, much more satisfying.

Stalkers: Social Media's Oxymoron

2010-10-06T11:45:00.000-04:00

You give real stalkers a bad name

I always see much ado made about online stalkers (or as my Son calls them, creepers). Facebook stalking, Twitter stalking, Foursquare stalking; every type of social media claims to have its share of stalkers. People that check up on status updates, photos, comments and friend lists trying to figure out what's going on in a person's life. By some people's accounts you'd think they have a slew of Norman Bates trolling around in their social media ready to snatch back their shower curtains at any moment. Every so often you'll see a fed up status update taking a swing at these creepers telling them to go away and get a life and quit stalking.

And to this I say, bullshit.

The idea of an online stalker is an oxymoron. It's like accusing someone of being a voyeur for looking at you walk down the street. Yes, if you use Foursquare or have the GPS locator feature active on your Twitter account, don't be surprised when people know exactly where you are and where you have been. If you just told the whole world how much your ass itches, don't be surprised when they sit two seats over from you in class. If all you talk about is booze and sex, don't be surprised when people assume you are a drunken whore. And when you spell out your life problems in your status updates, don't expect people not to give advice and pass judgment. I don't know where people got the idea that information put out on the web on a social media site is private information not open for indiscriminate perusal by any other person who has access to the same social media site, but it's an idea that seems to be running rampant.

The key word in "social media site" is SOCIAL, which means open sharing with others, not privacy and isolation. The whole point of these sites is to share information. If you put photos up, people will look at them; if you put status updates up, people will read them; if you geotag yourself, people will know where you have been. Notice the dominant word in the foregoing sentence: YOU. YOU control what information goes out into the public domain via social media sites. And yes, the internet (with the exception of your e-mail and bank accounts and the like) is the public domain. These so called stalkers are not stealing your mail from your mailbox or peeping through your drawn blinds or following you around 2 cars behind. Real stalking takes WORK. These people online are looking at information that YOU freely and voluntarily put out for them, and everyone else, to see.

Oh, but your say your account is "private"? How laughable. On Twitter, any of your followers at any time can retweet your "protected" tweets and they're out there for everyone to read (and for Google to search). And getting around a block is as easy as an unfollow and refollow, or a public search of public timelines. Or my favorite is the dummy Twitter account where you don't know who is actually behind the e-mail address and fake avatar of your newest follower (yea, I've been gotten by that one before). On Facebook there are so many layers of privacy protection for each component of the site that you either have to lock down the entire thing, defeating the purpose of a social media site, or make it a full time job to police your page. I've gone to people's Facebook pages who supposedly don't share info with people who aren't their friends, clicked on their photo tab and get to see all their pictures. And Foursquare.... c'mon now. You're telling people exactly where you are and what you are doing AND how many times you've been there (I call it StalkerSquare and no longer use it for a reason). These sites are designed for SHARING, not keeping things to yourself.

So how about this for privacy? Get yourself a diary and a photo album and hide them under your bed and you won't have to worry about so-called online stalkers. If that's not a very desirable option for you, just proceed on these sites with the mindset and assumption that anything you put online can be seen by anyone, and you have NO control over the frequency or thoroughness of their scrutiny. And know there are human beings viewing these things who are going to make assumptions and pass judgement based upon these brief glimpses you give them into your life. If I have any online stalkers, I wouldn't know it because I don't worry about it. I control what I put out there, and on a site like Facebook that's connected to my real name I only put things out there I don't mind my mother and children seeing. If anyone else wants to take an intense interest in my profile, go ahead, knock yourself out. I actually find it sort of flattering ~~in a sick and bizarre way~~. Because, while I may limit access in certain ways, it ultimately is not private.

Perhaps the obsession with online stalkers (and also haters, but that's another post) is a manifestation of acute megalomania. Or the delusional fantasy that you are a celebrity and these people are your paparazzi. I don't know. I'm not saying that there aren't people who get obsessive about checking other's comings and goings and doings online ~~and that probably need to get themselves help and/or a new boo and/or a life~~. But that is THEIR problem, not yours. Your problem is making sure you control what they get to obsess over in the first place.

Old B*tch in the Club

2010-06-29T11:02:00.000-04:00

This is not cute.

A few weeks ago I was watching Chris Rock's movie "I Think I Love My Wife" and there was a part when ole girl was talking about why she was deciding to settle down, and one phrase she said has been haunting me ever since:

"I'm 32 years old...... I'm the old bitch in the club."

That statement right there reached right out of the TV and punched me in my face.  It's not that this was some deep revelation that I'd never thought about before. No, quite the contrary. I'd been thinking about this A LOT when I've been out at the club, feeling all sorts of annoyance at the songs people were getting hype to, irritation at the ridiculousness of the attire (while at the same time feeling self conscious at my own neo-hippie attire), and frustration the next day (and the day after and the day after) at my sore joints and inability to shake a hangover like I used to. No, ole girl didn't tell me something I didn't know; she told me something I already knew quite well but was trying my best to ignore.

When I was younger I always said I never wanted to be that old bitch in the club. The chick that just thinks she's out there killin' the game, when the game she's trying to kill actually passed away 5 years ago.  There's a sort of a sad, pathetic air to her that makes you vow to never be her in 10 years, and instead be someone's kept wife and soccer mom to 2.5 kids and NOT have your ass still in the club. She and her crew may try to justify their existence by labeling themselves as cougars, when in reality they are just some old chicks that need to go somewhere and saddown.

In a few days I turn 32. I was cool with 30, even cool with 31, but there's something about 32 that's not sitting too nicely with me. I feel like I ought to be progressing forward through the stages of life, not trying to convince myself that I still belong in a prior stage. No, I am not saying I am old. 32 is NOT old. But it is starting to be too old to carry on like I did at 23 every single weekend, out in the club, feet hurting, listening to bad music, trying to be seen, and that being a main focus in life. I ought to be focusing on building a life for myself, progressing in my career, making lasting relationships with family and friends that will be around long after the party is over. It's not so much 32 itself that's bothering me, but this mounting pressure to "prove" I'm not old by pushing myself past my ever shrinking limits.  It seems like giving up on (or at least backing down from) those things is seen as defeat, as if life is over and you might as well spend your free time digging your own grave with a teaspoon.

I think I just want to be ok with the fact that I don't want to hang out every single Friday and Saturday night, plus be out all during the week as well. I want to be ok with getting a movie from the Redbox, an Amy's organic cheese pizza and a bottle of wine and sitting on my couch on a Friday night instead of trying to figure out where the party is. It's not so much that I am getting old, it's that the club scene is getting old. The novelty has worn off..... I know all the DJ's mixes, I have a man so I don't need to be validated by men trying to talk to me, I'm past the age where I give a damn about "being seen" or showing off the latest fashions so I can get the approval of other females, and I can make the same ~~stronger~~ drinks at home for a fraction of the price, AND I won't wake up the next morning feeling like crap from the killer hangover and Taco Bell I picked up on the way home. My body could handle whatever abuse I threw at it five years ago; now, I pay a much steeper price for what are becoming diminishing rewards.

Instead of going to the club, I want to do things that create more meaningful and lasting relationships with people. When you're young, it's about being seen, having fun, impressing others. Now, in my 30s, it's about making lasting lifelong connections. I recently went to my beau's mother's 60th birthday party and was just so amazed at how many people she had in her life that cared about her that came to her celebration. Later I was talking to her about that and she said most of those people came into her life in the past 20 years after her husband passed away, all from the organizations she belonged to and the activities she did and the help and support people gave her helping to raise her 5 kids. That made me feel a little better because I was starting to worry that I would end up alone and friendless, as I have been going out less and thus spending less time with friends with whom all we really have in common is going out. I'm relieved that I still have time to build a meaningful life surrounded by people who truly care about me.

Am I saying I'm done with going out? No, not at all. I still like to dress up, dance, socialize and engage in tomfoolery every once in awhile (and still more often than your average homebody). And I still turn plenty of heads when I do go to the club. But I want to start having fun my way, not try to replicate what I did at 22, or even 27 (I had a lot of fun at 27). The same club every single weekend is just no longer my thing. I want to go to more events like festivals, picnics, performances, shows, and trips, activities where I can really connect with people instead of shouting over blaring music and scantily clad drunk girls. I don't think being 32 in the club in and of itself is a bad thing. It's trying to live life like I'm not 32 that is.

The (In)significance of Girlfriends

2010-06-21T15:13:00.003-04:00

(This is follow up to the previous post, All's Fair in Love and War. I suggest you read it. Thanks.)

Up until about a year and a half ago, it had been a LONG time since I'd held the title of "girlfriend". Even before holding the title of "wife" for about 9 years, I was "fiance" for a year and a half, and "baby momma" for 5. Not since I was 15 have I held the title of just "girlfriend"......until now. I'm sure for most women the status of girlfriend is the norm and utterly commonplace, so I'm sure you have no clue why this makes any bit of difference such that it warrants a blog post (then again, many things written about in blogs don't deserve a blog post). Patience...... let me explain.

Girlfriends (and boyfriends, too), at first glance, are afforded special status. To gain that official title means that you play an important and intimate role in someone's life. However, in reality..... you're one step above nobody. Here today, gone tomorrow, and nobody (with the exception of a few) hears from or thinks about you ever again. At best, you become "Who was that chick you messed with a few years ago?? The one with the old kids?", and hopefully not "Man, what was that crazy bitch's name you finally got rid of??" Girlfriends are some of the most transient, non-permanent individuals in a person's life. And thus, they are treated as such.

This realization didn't fully hit home until my Son got his first official girlfriend. She's a nice girl, and so far I like her, but not-so-far in the back of my mind I know this is (hopefully) just a temporary thing in the grand scheme of life. He's 16 years old, she's 17. I don't care how much he or she thinks they may be "in love", I know there's a 99.9% chance they will break up eventually, most likely when she goes off to college in a year, if not sooner. Knowing this (or believing this.... but what's really the difference?), I will be nice, kind, respectful toward their little relationship, but I have no plans on making her an integral part of my family.

(Notice I used the word "little". I find myself using that a lot in reference to their relationship. I always refer to her as "Q's little girlfriend" though I am constantly reminded by my own beau that she's not "little" and is very much built like a grown ass woman...... the adjective is not used in the literal sense. But I digress.)

If you're thinking "Well yes, they are kids, of course you wouldn't think of her like that" then let me change the scenario. I remember once sitting in my friend's basement talking to his then girlfriend (in her mind at least) and she was going on and on about plans to take trips and what they were going to do next year and we should all plan to do XYZ, blah, blah, blah. I listened, smiled and nodded, gave the occasional "Oh that would be nice" but the whole time in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Chick, you ain't gonna last through the summer." And I was right, because what I knew that she didn't was that he was a serial monogamist and I'd seen many like her come and go (and then try to hem me up in the club asking why he went). So while she thought/hoped/wished/fantasized/delusionally believed she was The One, I knew otherwise, so I saw no need to get myself to attached to the idea of her being around.

So, this has me thinking about my own status as "girlfriend" and wondering how I am different from the females mentioned above, and so far I can't think of any reason why I'm not. Yes, in my reality and his reality I am a very important individual (and vice versa). But for everyone else around him who has seen girlfriends come and go, at this point in time they have no reason to take me seriously. In the eyes of the permanent individuals in his life, I'm the current lady friend who sits in the same position as the past lady friend; the next girl who may just as easily become the ex girl.

The implications of this are twofold. First is not being taken seriously by family, for the reasons stated above. But second, and more vexing, is the disrespect and toe stepping by "friends". Now, when my male friends get a new lady friend, I go out of my way to show that I come in peace and try not to make any sudden, threatening moves. I think, however, that I am in the minority. In reality, there is the attitude of "Bitch I was here before you, I will be here after you, and who are you to tell me how I can and cannot deal with MY friend" accompanied by that passive aggressiveness that females have gotten down to a science AND and art that's really not about the guy, but more about whatever the female equivalent of a pissing contest would be. And honestly, unfortunately..... I can't really argue with the logic. But logic isn't everything and it still pisses me off. Add on top of this the notion that all's fair in love and war, and as merely the girlfriend I'm a sitting duck for toe stepping, sneak attacks, tomfoolery, and all sorts of other females' reindeer games.

(Do I sound paranoid?? Sorry......there was an incident.)

The reality is until there is some next level of commitment made, whether intentional (engagement/marriage) or unintentional (baby momma), the status of girlfriend means very little to the outside world. Sometimes it almost feels like a joke, like I'm just waiting for someone actually to cock their head to side, pat me on the head and say "Oh, that's so cute." I can almost hear the mental speculation as to whether I'll be the one back next year at the company picnic, or a guest at the next wedding, or at the next family function.....

With all that said, none of this really matters. All that matters is how he and I feel about each other and the level of mutual respect we show one another. You must walk before you can run, and walking the role of girlfriend is just one of those normal, everyday life things. Just another one of my observations from my odd vantage point of being a girlfriend for the first time in my adult life, that's all.

All's Fair in Love and War

2010-06-09T14:16:00.002-04:00

Maybe she wasn't such a cootie queen after all.

History is always told from the perspective of the winner, not as it actually went down. Our history books are all written in such a way that applauds the actions of the ones in control and condemns those of the loser. This is simply one of the spoils of war; the winners get to tell the story the way they want it to be told, and very few actually question it. This is not only the case in our civilization's history, but love as well.

Some time last year a good friend of mine was telling me about a new guy she was kickin' it with. He was a musician, handsome, sexy, and despite the fact that he was staying with her (temporarily til he found another place, supposedly), he had a girlfriend. I told her run for your life, he's playing you as live-in booty while he plans a life with this chick, you're gonna get your feelings hurt.

Well, last week they got engaged.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to people who are in pre-marriage relationships: One is that these people are in committed relationships and their relationship should be respected and left alone, and anyone who tries to interfere is just foul and dead wrong. The other, which was best summed up by my mentor who was a notorious flirt, is "You're single until you're married." In the Infinite Wisdom of my 20's (and by "Infinite Wisdom" I mean "I thought I had shit figured out and then I actually lived life and was proven terribly wrong") I was of the school of thought that the latter attitude was just awful and an excuse to sleep around for as long as possible. And even still today I get irritated when someone persists in trying to holla even after I inform them that I have a boyfriend. But my friend's good news got me thinking about whether this issue is as black and white, right vs. wrong, as I originally thought.

Take my friend as example. When she first started "dating" her now fiance, 9 out of 10 disinterested women polled on the street would probably tell you she was being a scandalous scallywag for messing with someone else's man. Now in hindsight though, I would merely have to say "She won." The ultimate purpose of dating (for most people) is to find someone to build a life with, ideally to marry. But the fact is that many people are in lackluster, half hearted relationships that they are holding onto for whatever reason, maybe because it's not bad but not really fantastic, or out of habit, or because that's what they think they want, or whatever. If someone else comes along that is a better match, should they bypass it because of some sense of obligation to the lackluster relationship, or go forward and pursue greater happiness? Should the interloper walk away from someone showing interest in them because that person is supposedly in a relationship which the interloper has no knowledge of its depth or complexity?

Let's take another example: my very own sister. She dated a guy from high school for over 5 years, but then her junior or senior year of college she had another guy incessantly in her ear, calling her all the time over the summer, not really caring at all that she had a boyfriend. That other guy is now my brother-in-law, they have 2 beautiful boys and a wonderful life together. Had he abided by the "rules" and left my sister alone out of "respect" for her relationship with a guy who honestly was slipping, my sister would not have the life she has today. My brother-in-law presented himself as the better option, plain and simple. He won.

I'm not saying that anyone who is not married is 100% fair game and that the follow up question to "Yes, I'm seeing someone" should always be "But are you happy?" because really, that just comes off as rude and disrespectful. I'm just making the observation that when it comes to love and dating, history rewrites itself such that seemingly questionable behavior all the sudden becomes justified and endearing. I would be willing to bet that a great number of "how we met" stories involve the scenario "he/she was dating someone already, but I really wanted to get to know him/her" or some other reason why the situation wasn't exactly ideal at the time. During none of the umpteen times your dad tells the story of how he met your mother do you think "Man, what an asshole", but rather "Wow, he really, really wanted to get with mom." After the fact we applaud the persistence, the determination, the romanticism, and the poor ex ("Ole Whats-His-Name") just becomes a forgotten casualty of love.

So I guess I do have to agree that, in the grand scheme of life, you really are single until you're married, not in the sense that you can willy nilly do whatever you want in a relationship and use that as a defense (try saying "It wasn't wrong because we're not married" to your boo and see what happens.... you won't be in that particular relationship much longer), but rather there are no guarantees until you say "I do". Married people are definitely off limits, and at that point you merely become a homewrecker. But for everyone else, relationships come and go and the reality is that there aren't always clean breaks in between them. In the end, when it's all said and done, the only person who matters is the one who won.

All is fair in love and war, loved ones..... and the victor gets to rewrite history.

*Disclaimer: Idiosyncratic Thoughts will not be held responsible for any head busting or beat downs you may catch going after someone else's (wo)man. Please proceed with caution.

The Craptacular Truth about Law

2010-05-05T11:56:00.003-04:00

Yesterday as I was visiting my beau for lunch I stopped in and said hi to his boss. He knew I was looking for a new job and he had a connection in one of the other Big Firms here in the city and asked if I would be interested, to which I replied with an emphatic "NO". Then he asked me about non-profit work, which I have no problem with, and he asked if I'd be interested in a Christian legal services organization. Again, "NO". I explained that I had no desire to go back into the traditional practice of law and was merely looking for something legal skill related, and he proceeded to give me the look that you might give....oh..... a crazy person.

But I ain't crazy.

If I've said this once, I've said it a thousand times: Law is not a Golden Ticket. When most people hear the word "lawyer" they automatically think "big money" and "ballin" and "powerful" and "successful". When I hear the word lawyer I think these words: depressed, unhappy, struggling, overworked, undervalued, underemployed, unemployed. I'm sure people think I'm being pessimistic and just reacting to my own unfortunate set of circumstances, and that if they were to go to law school things would be different for them, but I'm not. I have friends-- licensed law graduates -- working temp jobs, secretary jobs, waiting tables, running clothing stores, teaching, everything BUT law. Then there are my friends taking a stab at their own law practice, dealing with clients who don't want to pay, can't pay, or want to have "business meetings" to either holla at you or get as much free info out of you as they can. You also have the government attorneys who make around the U.S. median household income, if they're lucky, and the non-profit attorneys who have to work second retail jobs to make ends meet. Finally you have the just flat out unemployed who are plagued with the problem of being "overqualified" for EVERYTHING and can't even get a job at Target. Most of my friends who started out with the "dream jobs" at big firms are no longer there, either forced out by the firm or by their own last shred of sanity, and finding themselves in one of those situations mentioned above. More than one friend has voluntarily walked out of a six figure job into nothingness... no new job, no prospects, nada.

Those are some powerfully compelling arguments against law as a profession. Yet they are arguments non-lawyers don't hear or don't want to hear. There are still waiting lists a mile long at law schools full of people who just want to further flood an already oversaturated market with their pipe dreams of instant success and fortune. Let's just stop the madness already.

I recently came across a blog, The Unemployed Lawyer, written by another law school alum, and while I don't necessarily want my misery to have company (meaning I'm wishing misery on someone else) it's always nice to know it ain't just me and something I'm doing wrong, a feeling that has many, many of us law grads and licensed attorneys feeling quite dejected and questioning our self worth. She sums it up pretty well in this post that made me tear up a little bit because it is so very true:

"I went to law school, passed the bar, and now I'm doing something completely unrelated to my over priced degree. And I'm broke. Are you going to finish that drink?"

It makes us feel pretty shitty when someone in the bar (or anywhere) asks us what we're doing with ourselves these days, and that's the "craptacular" truth we're forced to reveal (or cover up). I recently skipped being a guest at an awards breakfast, invited because I was the top undergraduate business school award winner the year I graduated, soley because I didn't want to have to explain that yes, I was the top business grad, yes, I graduated cum laude from law school, yes, I had the Big Firm job, and yes, I'm now working a county job that doesn't even require a degree and doesn't pay my basic bills. Because the general public is so deluded, they think we're idiots, or damaged goods, and the worst are the prospective law students who think that we must have done something wrong and that they can do it better.

Naw, honey. If you wanna take a stab at graduating cum laude with a published law review article and see if your results are different, be my guest. But this is across the board regardless of your class rank. I see shining stars get shot down from the sky every day.

I guess my point is the same point that I constantly make on Twitter that law isn't the express lane to success, but also that I'm not crazy for telling that jealous mistress named Law to kick rocks, and I'm tired of being looked down upon (and looking down on myself) for reaching my goal and finding it to be an ill fitting dead end. This break up is ending with "It's not me..... it's you" and NOT the other way around.

She's not your Little Freak

2010-04-15T12:01:00.003-04:00

Results may vary from those shown.... proceed with caution.

So this morning I was listening to my Thursday morning guilty pleasure, Wrong Number Flirting, and the mission on which Slutty Chelsea (the telephone decoy) was put upon was a bit different from the typical chick trying to find out if her man is ~~a philandering man whore~~ cheating. Today's caller was a woman (let's call her L) who had been dating a chick (let's call her B) for about 6 weeks and was SO in love with her, but suspected that B still had her foot on the other side of the fence, i.e. she was still seeing men. This was B's first lesbian relationship but had told the L that she'd never felt like this with anyone before, really cared for her, etc. But thanks to a Blackberry and a bit of snooping, ole girl realized her new lady friend was still e-mailing her ex-boyfriend. Enter Slutty Chelsea and her first lesbian challenge.

Slutty Chelsea calls B pretending that her girlfriend recommended B for hair coloring services. Per usual, Slutty Chelsea goes on to play the "you sound hot let's meet up" card, to which B responds that she's flattered, but she has a BOYFRIEND. Busted. L comes back on the phone, hurt and asking for explanations, to which B replies in so many words "This was nothing serious..... I was just having fun." And then her solution to the problem was an an offer bring a guy into the mix. Aye dios mio.

As much as I laughed in my car at the whole scenario (as I do when anyone gets busted), a bigger part of me was pissed on behalf of L and all the other women who have had their feelings hurt by someone who was "just having fun." Dabbling into the realm of bi-sexuality seems to be all the rage now. It's almost a rite of passage for women from 18 to 25 (or beyond). Young women play around for a bit, then box up that phase in their lives and go on to marry Mr. Right and have her 2.5 kids, and might whisper about her exploits to her fellow soccer moms over one too many martinis. No big deal, right? Wrong.

The thing that pisses me off the most about the treatment of gays and lesbians by our society is that they are not seen as human beings with regular human lives and human emotions. All our society sees is SEX, which for any heterosexual person is accepted as only a small facet of their life (unless you're a porn star). ALL people have feelings, seek love, and avoid hurt. B treated L like a game, something fun to do til she got it out of her system, while L was looking for a real committed relationship.

Does this sound familiar?

Let's change the scenario around. Let's say L is a black female, and B is a white male. B has only dated white women, but has always wondered what it would be like to shag a black woman. So he engages L in what she thinks is a relationship, tells her how much he cares for her and how she makes him feel, and later she finds out that Becky has still been on the scene all this time while B used L as something to check off on his "Things to Do Before I Die" list. Swap "black" and "white" for any sort of characteristic (fat, skinny, amputee, little person, visually/hearing impaired) and flip flop the genders..... in all of these scenarios, one person was objectified and treated as a novelty, while the other played with their emotions for the sake of experimentation. People are not experiments, loved ones.

Going back to lesbians..... contrary to popular belief, lesbian women are not solely here for men's entertainment and sowing young women's wild oats. Those girls you see tonguing each other down in the club are not the representatives for women who love being with other women. I know lesbian couples who have been together for years, have homes, families, kids, LIVES together. They want love and happiness just like any other woman. But they want that with another WOMAN, not your freaky ass and whatever dude you want to bring around to add to the mix. Experimenting and dabbling is fine and all, but don't involve someone who is looking for a serious relationship and/or let her know up front what your intentions are. There are plenty of other dabblers and Nicki Minja Little Freaks out there to accomplish your purpose. There are also plenty of lesbian women who get off on "turning out" straight chicks and will enjoy using you just as much as you are using them. Just let them know up front where you're coming from and let them choose whether they want to proceed. Don't play with people's emotions and mislead them for your personal enjoyment, m'kay? It's really a simple, universal rule for any type of relationship.

So ladies, do your thing, explore your lives, just make sure you're not committing woman-on-woman emotional crimes and doing the same thing to lesbian women that you don't want done to you.

Twitter for Blackberry: an Uber Disappointment

2010-04-09T11:58:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I tried out the new Blackberry Twitter app. I've been an Ubertwitter user for over a year now, but I was eagerly anticipating what Blackberry had to bring to the table. After all, it's their app designed for their phone, and who knows you better than yourself right? WRONG. I used it for 5 minutes and switched back to Ubertwitter (actually never stopped using Ubertwitter, but rather parked the Blackberry Twitter app right next to it). And here's why:

1) No visual distinction in the timeline for DMs and @ replies.

Even though I love to read, I'm very much an "at a glance" type of girl. I want information assimilated into my brain as quickly as possible, which is why I love the fact that Ubertwitter makes @ replies yellow and DMs green within my timeline. As I'm skimming through new tweets, these catch my eye. The Blackberry Twitter app (hereinafter referred to as BBT) makes no color distinction. Sure, you can go to the menu and just go to your @ replies and DMs, but Ubertwitter gives you that option as well. Slightly related to this is the fact that I love the prominent "In Reply To" button on Ubertwitter so I can follow a conversation all the way back. Yes, BBT does this, but it's not as convenient.

2) Refresh > every 5 minutes.

Blackberry are you serious?? Do you know how many tweets an average Twitter user can amass in 5 minutes?? I don't either, but I know it's a lot. I'd be scrolling forever to get caught up every time it would do a refresh. Ubertwitter gives you the option to refresh as often as every 1 minute. Sure it's more pull on the battery to refresh that often, but battery management is MY decision to make. And that's what chargers and USB cables are for. BBT makes you wait an eternity to see your new tweets, leaving many Tweeps deprived and frustrated.

3) No editing for retweets.

Someone obviously didn't do their market research to realize that this feature from the Twitter website is loathed by just about every Twitter user on the planet. It is as if nobody wants to admit that they screwed the pooch on this one and keep forcing it upon us to make us like it (dammit!). For one, I like to be able to add my own comments to RTs so I'm contributing to the dialogue, not just parroting someone else. For two, I don't like these random strangers' names and faces showing up in my timeline when one of my friends retweets them. I want the person who retweeted's name and pic to show up, and THEN if I want to go to the original poster's profile & timeline, I can. I'm all about choices, if you haven't figured that out by now.

4) No autofill of friends' names.

It's really pointless to do an @ reply when you misspell a person's name, because they won't see it anyway. Ubertwitter solved the problem of trying to remember the spelling of people's names by automatically filling in names as you type. Once you type the @ symbol, a list of all your friends pops up and gets sorted as you type out the name. You can also scroll down the entire list and choose a name. This really comes in handy when you're like me and have the memory of a goldfish and can't remember how a person's name is spelled, or if you want to @ reply multiple people ~~or when you are drunk Tweeting~~. In BBT, like the web, you either have to cut and paste (which doesn't work for multiple Tweeps on your Blackberry) or try to remember exactly how everyone's name is spelled. That's just too much work.

5) Limited viewing options.

One size does not fit all, but BBT seems to think so. There is no option to make text size smaller to fit more tweets on the screen. At most in BBT I could see 1 or 2 tweets, when in Ubertwitter I can fit around 4 for average length tweets. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but it IS. Ubertwitter also allows you to have different text sizes for timelines versus tweets, so your timeline can be smaller for skimming, while tweets can be larger for reading and composing. BBT also gives you one line in which to composed tweets, as opposed to Ubertwitter providing an entire window so you can see your whole message as you compose it. Call me a nerd, but there's a certain aesthetic quality to the arrangement of words and characters in Tweets that you just can't see in that little one line.

My verdict: the Blackberry Twitter app bites. If you like the fabulously sucky features of the Twitter website, then maybe you'll like it. If you're expecting Blackberry's app to do anything extra that Ubertwitter doesn't besides further clutter up your primary message list (which you can basically do anyway by enabling the "text on new tweets" option on the website, and then what's the point of having an app in the first place??) you'll be sorely disappointed. Ubertwitter already does a great job of being fully integrated into Blackberry's features..... I've sent things to Ubertwitter that would take me forever and 5 steps to do online like sending pictures, music AND video. I can take a picture either before or after I start composing a tweet, as it's fully integrated into not just media, but the camera function itself. If you want visual notifications, it's hooked into that and can be customized from Blackberry's options screen. It seems like Blackberry let Twitter design this app, and everyone knows that everyone else does Twitter better than they do.

Blackberry (and Twitter) you need to take some notes from Ubertwitter. In fact you should have just done your product development like the Burger King did coming up with BK's sausage muffin sandwich and just copied the whole concept lock, stock and barrel. Blackberry, I love you and we can still be friends, but you really missed the mark on this one.

This Ain't 1984....Yet, It Is

2010-04-07T18:20:00.001-04:00

You often hear about people Googling a man or woman they just met in order to get a little free background on them; make sure they're not a registered sex offender, make sure they're not wanted in 5 states, make sure that they aren't a featured member on some gay porn site, just a check up to see what they might not be disclosing in the first 1 or 2 dates.

But..... when was the last time you Googled yourself??

These days, we live our lives online. We communicate with friends, we meet people, we share pictures, stories and thoughts with basically the entire world. But that's something I don't think people think about. We tend to think just about our "friend list" or our "followers", but in reality what you put on the internet is an open book for anyone to pluck off the shelf and peruse.

Here, take 30 seconds to do an experiment. If you are on Twitter, go to Google and type in your screen name. I don't care whether your account is "private" or not, I guarantee at least some of your tweets are going to show up as results. And not just the tweets themselves, but other sites that analyze your tweets. For example, according to Cursebird.com, I apparently curse like a gangsta rapper. This site is solely dedicated to examining how much cursing is going on via Twitter, and will tell you exactly how often and what curse words you use.

Now think about every site you're a member of, every e-mail address you have, every blog your write or comment on, every picture you're tagged in, every status update you post..... that is A LOT of info just flung out into the world wide web. You post it and forget about it with the next post. But guess what, loved ones: it's still there. Still there for employers, lovers, friends, acquaintances, your pastor, a stalker, or anyone to find.

So.... what do you do? This is an unavoidable issue for the vast majority of us, and removing yourself from the online community completely is not a very feasible option. After all, there is some utility to being accessible online. So, loved ones, here are some strategies I use to minimize the impact my online immortal words (and images) have:

1) Have more than one "identity" and keep them from commingling.

I am essentially two different people online. I have my "public me" that is on my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts that is associated with my real name, info and photos. I then have my "private me" with is associated with my blogs, Twitter, and Tumblr that always uses a pseudonym and rarely (if ever) uses a photo of my face. The "public me" is the info that I don't necessarily mind an employer or a family member to see. In fact, I have my mother AND my kids as friends on my Facebook page, so that right there acts as an automatic censor. The "private me", oddly enough, is actually the REAL me, but being that I often say, think and write things that may ~~make me seem crazy~~ not necessarily be acceptable and appropriate in all settings and to all people, I like to make this persona not easily identifiable as being me. Sure you could use context clues to put two and two together to get five, but it would take some effort and time.

I keep these two identities separated, in effect creating a Chinese Wall between the two. All these sites have the option to linking to other sites, cross posting and the like, which may seem convenient but it also creates an easily traceable path back to you. I may link up my Twitter and Tumblr, but neither of these two are going to be linked to my Facebook page. I don't have the option of simultaneously posting tweets as status updates, and that's is on purpose. For me, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.

2) Use different e-mail addresses.

Along the same lines as the first point, have different e-mail addresses for different purposes. My e-mail address that I have associated with my Twitter account is NOT the same e-mail address that is listed on my resume. It is possible to do a search of an e-mail address and see every site that you joined using that address. Also when you join social networking sites, they often give you the option to search for people via your address book. If you don't want your boss knowing what crazy trending topic you went in on last week, don't use the e-mail address that he or she has for you.

3) Don't post crazy shit.

This is kind of an obvious one, but one that I see people get caught up with all the flipping time. I cringe every time I see someone tweeting about smoking weed, or driving drunk, or any other illegal activity because that can be used against you by an employer, or worse, a court of law. Be careful what photos your post and what photos other people tag you in. Recently I went on my son's 17 year old girlfriend's Facebook page and saw a picture of a table full of booze bottles. I'm not even her friend on Facebook, but was able to go peruse her pictures freely. Also don't contradict yourself. If you call in sick, don't then Tweet about chillin' on your friend's boat all day. Don't post anything that will get you fired, dumped, or cause your family shame and dishonor for generations to come.

4) Google YOURSELF.

Do the very same thing that you regularly do for the guy or lady you met in the club last week. Every so often, do a check-up and Google yourself and see what comes up. Put in your name, your name in quotes, your e-mail addresses, anything that someone (i.e. an employer) would obviously use to find you, and just see what comes up. My first result that comes up is my LinkedIn profile, which is exactly the sort of result I want people searching for me to see. My Twitter account doesn't show up, my blogs don't show up, nothing that I would be worried about anyone seeing shows up. Through this check-up process, I did discover an social networking site I was no longer using that was still connected to my e-mail, which prompted me to go delete the page. If I hadn't Googled myself, I wouldn't have even thought about it's existence.

Basically this all comes down to not just common sense, but constantly being mindful that everything online, no matter what your privacy settings are, is public. If you don't care about your image to potential employers, clients, or future mother-in-law, by all means say and do whatever you want ~~and while you're at it go get a huge face and neck tattoo~~. There's a time and place for everything, loved ones. Just don't make it all the time and everywhere by putting every aspect of your life on the web.

*And if you have no clue how 1984 has anything to do with this, please go read a book.

Public Snooping... just don't do it

2010-03-27T18:06:00.002-04:00

This is how snooping SHOULD be done.... and in that outfit, too. He might be less mad.

One of my new guilty pleasures has become Thursday morning's Wrong Number Flirting on a local radio station. Basically it's the telephone and radio version of the "sexy decoy" on talk shows. A female who suspects her man may be cheating calls in, tells her story, gives some background, and one of the radio hosts plays the role of "Slutty Chelsea" and calls dude up with a somewhat plausible story and tries to get dude to hook up with her and/or admit some other fact that his girlfriend/wife suspects he's hiding. For example, last Thursday's guy was a math tutor and his girlfriend suspected that he was cheating with his female pupils, so Slutty Chelsea called pretending she needed "late night tutoring sessions." Another week it was a baseball coach and Slutty Chelsea calling as a MILF in need of coaching for her son. Or my favorite was the woman who suspected her fiance had been engaged before and her ring was a hand-me-down..... Slutty Chelsea called claiming to be a friend of the girlfriends, and not only did dude try and have a date with her (because he thought he remembered her) he also admitted to being engaged before and that they only reason his fiance got the second-hand ring is because they were both fat and that was the only place he could get a plus sized ring.......*ouch*.

As entertained as I am while I drive Mini-Me to school each Thursday morning, I also delight in the loathing that I have for the women who call in to set their dudes up. They're usually whiny, insecure, passive aggressive little nags who flip out when someone is prettier than them. For many of them their only "evidence" that their man may be dipping out are the fact that he interacts with women and "acts weird". I'm not much of a fan of snooping in the first place, but if you must do it, do it in private. These women, however, choose to investigate with thousands of people in central region of the state listening in. And this is even worse than the talk shows, because at least the guy consents to going and sitting on Steve Wilko's stage, and if he doesn't have enough sense to know some bad shit is gonna come of it, that's on him. But to just blindside a dude and take your snooping to the public domain by tapping his phone conversation via a popular radio station......cuán patético.

My favorite part, however, is to hear the guys' reactions. Some of them are, in fact, low down dirty dogs who get busted, and it's funny to hear them fumble through an explanation. But for the innocent guys, I like to hear them go OFF on their girlfriends. Sometimes they try and make it seem like dude is an asshole for getting pissed, stressing that there's nothing to be upset about because he "passed" and isn't "in trouble", but I think they are perfectly justified in being pissed off to the highest level of pissivity. Not only does he have to deal with an insecure, whiny chick who's probably already cracked all his passcodes and checks his pockets daily, he's now got to deal with the world knowing that his woman just tried to throw him under the bus on a crowded street. She's taken what should be a private matter and made it very, very public, and didn't even have the she-balls to do it herself. They act like they can't understand why he's so mad. I'm a rather private person (despite what you read on here and Twitter), so I perfectly understand and sympathize...... in fact, I can often be seen driving in my car screaming at the radio "Yea, dumb ass, that's what you GET!" I laughed allll the way to work one day over a woman who ruined her own engagement surprise. Ha ha, bitch. Ha.

Whether you're an advocate of snooping or not (I'm not), or believe it's justified when you find something incriminating (I don't), this is just entirely the wrong way of going about it. Relationship problems should not be aired to the general public in graphic detail, whether that's on a talk show, radio show, blog or Twitter (and yes, I admit I've been guilty of such in the past, but I've checked myself). You shouldn't need the mass media market to back you up. I can't stand that show "The Marriage Ref" because I don't think you should leave it to Madonna and a live studio audience to work out your marital issues. You should just grow a pair (ladies, too) and confront your mate one-on-one, not hide behind some show and let them do your dirty work that you're too much of a wuss to do yourself. The very fact that there are thousands of people like me who eagerly listen and laugh at what otherwise should be a serious issue should deter, not encourage you. These women have reduced themselves to cheap forms of frivolous entertainment and unwittingly dragged their dudes right in along with them. So yes, they deserve to get thoroughly embarrassed and read the riot act in public, where they put themselves in the first place.

So handle your private business in private, loved ones. If you are so immature as to have to get a third-party to trick your mate into revealing information, maybe you need to rethink whether you're mature enough to handle a real relationship in the first place.

Everything Ain't for Everybody

2010-03-21T00:05:00.000-04:00

"You know what they say..... everything ain't for everybody.... but I tried anyway......"

I have been a Blackberry user since 2007. I remember when I first got my Blackberry Curve I got teased by one of my friends because he said my phone was so "corporate". I couldn't get the iPhone I wanted (and the reason I switched carriers in the first place) because it wouldn't work with my firm's enterprise server, so I was stuck with a Blackberry or a Treo (been there, done that). At first I resented the little bastard..... I wasn't "corporate", dammit!! (even though I was working as an associate at the largest law firm in the city at the time) I wanted a sexy phone, too! But ultimately it became an issue of utility over form and I dealt with it.

Since my first Curve 8300, I've had a Curve 8350 (well, the guts of it anyway, after my friend spilled a pint of Blue Moon on my 8300 and another friend gave me his 8350 with a cracked case, so I got out my little screwdriver set and swapped out the body.... easy stuff), a Bold 9000 (which I LOVED), and now a Tour 9630. I don't know if someone was smoking crack while the designed the Tour or whether I just have really, really bad luck with phones, but I am now on my 4th replacement Tour (so 5th phone total). If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result, then apparently I am stark raving mad. But this past weekend made one thing abundantly clear to me: I'm just a Crackberry ~~fiend~~ lover.

So, my 3rd replacement Tour, as all the others before it, started effing up. Freezing up, screen delay when turned on, trackball lags, just acting a plumb donkey. Sprint (bless their souls) is very good about replacing phones on warranty versus making you use your insurance, and their policy is that on your third replacement you get to switch to a different model. Unfortunately, the Tour is currently their best Blackberry, and the Tour 2 won't be out for months, so on my 3rd replacement I decided to forgo that option. However, on this 4th time I was just fed up. I lucked up and got Ben the Assistant Manager this go around and he offered to let me pick any phone I wanted. *cue hallelujah chorus*

Let me back up. My beau prides himself on his ability to get things for free. And one of the things he's been able to get has been not one, but TWO phone upgrades at no cost. His latest and greatest triumph came in the form of the HTC Touch Pro 2, currently Sprint's most expensive smartphone with a retail price of about $600. And it does everything.... walks your dog, tells you how great you look, signals alien space crafts, all the bells and whistles. We would have races to see who could look up some random bit of information faster between his HTC and my Blackberry, and yes, he would usually win. He would always mockingly (but jokingly) point out some cool feature that his phone could do that mine couldn't. It was sleeker, sexier......and not corporate.

Back to Saturday and Ben the Assistant Manager. So I wouldn't come off as trying to get over on anyone (which I wasn't) I feigned ignorance and acted like I was just *so* put out by the fact that they couldn't offer me another Blackberry and asked him what my options were, when in my mind I knew exactly which damn phone I wanted: that Touch Pro 2, so finally, FINALLY, I could shake my smartphone inferiority complex. I pretended to browse down the row of display phones before finally saying to Ben the Assistant Manager, "Well I GUESS I'll try out that one." And of course the first message I sent was to my beau with the "neener, neener, neener, lookie what I got!" text. Victory in the form of a sexy phone was finally mine.

But then I got home. Actually first I was trying to play with it in the car (kids, don't try this at home) and damn near wrecked a few times because I couldn't manage to work the touch screen right and the keyboard is so long it can't be used one handed. Ok, I told myself, I just have to get used to it, set it up, customize it. I started doing the set up and customizing my settings, and slowly began to realize that while it did all these great fancy things, it didn't do what I needed it to do. No push (i.e. real time) e-mail, no custom notifications (I couldn't use my Perry the Platypus sound for texts (!!), or vary the vibration types), no Google Talk application, no Pandora app (?!!!?!!!), and no Twitter application that seamlessly integrated the camera and media on my phone.... really no Twitter app at all. Navigating through the phone wasn't as easy as it was on my Blackberry, and admittedly when it comes to my phone usage I'm an OCD ADD user. I need everything I need, right there, easily accessible, functional, and admittedly..... basic.

Then there was the issue of it just being wrong. The weight of it felt wrong, the keyboard slide out and two hand usage felt wrong, and it just looked wrong in my possession. I'd glance over at it sitting on the table and think "That's not my phone, that's HIS phone." I had already mentally associated it with my beau, and it was his identity, not mine. It worked for him and the way he used his phone, which I now appreciate is very different from the ways in which I use mine. I realized that while it is a great phone, it was no better than my mildly attractive "corporate" Blackberry.... just different.

So despite his insistence that I just had to get used to it, the next day I took it back and asked for another Tour, this time brand new out the box instead of another refurbished replacement. I'm hoping that makes a difference because I have a feeling that the problems I was having were common to all these refurb Tours and I was simply getting someone else's recycled crap. And if not, and it's truly a piece of crap, I'll just keep swapping it out until the Tour 2 gets released and get my hand on one of those. I've just accepted that this is a small price to pay (or not pay, thanks to Sprint) for what I'm comfortable with and satisfies my needs.

Of course there's a bigger life lesson here, which was so aptly summarized by Jilly from Philly at the beginning of this post. It doesn't matter how great someone else tells you that something is, or what you should want, or how great something works for them. In the end it's about YOUR needs and the life choices you make to meet those needs. Too many people go through life seeking what they should want-- in a career, a mate, a lifestyle--not what they actually want, only to be sorely disappointed when they wasted their time on someone else's ideal. It's not that you were misled or that the other choice is inferior.... it may just wrong for you.

Where I Wanna Be.......?

2010-03-19T23:16:00.002-04:00

"I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate."
~ Elbert Hubbard

When Donnell Jones' "Where I Wanna Be" first came out, I was really pissed. I liked the song in the abstract, but the lyrics greatly upset me. I was 21 years old, recently married to my one and only boyfriend, and had two kids ages 6 and 1. I just thought Donnell was the biggest asshole in the world. What the hell is this "finding where I wanna be" bullshit?? WTF do you mean that if you love someone you need to leave before you cheat on them?? I felt outraged on behalf of whatever woman was the inspiration for that song, and I'm sure I'm not the only high school sweetheart that felt a little..... threatened.

But then, like with so many other things, I grew up. And hindsight is a mutha.

High school sweethearts are like puppies.... everyone ooohs and ahhhs and "that's so cute!" at them, but don't think about how they piss and shit all over your house and chew up all your furniture. The idea of high school sweethearts is nice and all, but in reality you may not only be selling yourself short, but selling your relationship short. Before you start mentally composing your "Nuhh-uhhh!!" comments telling me about how long you've been married to the captain of the football team for which you were a cheerleader, or how your grandparents got married at 12, just wait for my ~~twisted~~ logic and hear me out.

We often cannot appreciate what we have until we experience and appreciate what we don't have. And this is where the utility of dating different people comes into play. Every relationship-- even the crappy one ~~with the psychotic stalker~~ -- is instrumental in your growth as a person and as a potential companion. You get to learn what you like AND what you don't like, what behaviors are normal and which are extraordinary, and the successful and unsuccessful ways of interacting and communicating. The ability to compare and contrast is invaluable whether you realize it or not. I realize it in hindsight because I was not able to compare and contrast, and neither was my ex-husband, because all we knew were each other. He didn't know how tolerant I was, or how well I could cook, or how ~~phenomenal~~ good I was as a lover, because he had nothing to compare it to. And I didn't know how I deserved to be treated by a man, because I had no way of comparing. Our relationship existed in a vacuum, as do most high school sweetheart relationships.

When I started seeing other people, it was like a whole new world opened up within myself. You mean to tell me I'm NOT a crazy psycho girl that my ex always told me I was, but am really actually a pretty laid back chick? So I really AM a fantastic oral advocate (he tried to tell me I wasn't) and can turn a man on at the drop of a hat (he tried to say.... well, never mind... he had some "issues")?? And yes, I can cook my ass off? No, dudes aren't supposed to sit back and watch their woman fix shit around the house?? All of these things weren't revealed to me until after I had something to compare my first and only relationship with. And yes, I'm sure there were some positive things about him that I didn't see til I started dating............. I just can't think of any right now.

There is also something to be said about the power of choice. When you're dealing with toddlers, one technique parenting "experts" tell you to do is to give them the ability to choose between two options when in actuality they'd really rather do neither. If Suzie doesn't want to put on her sweater, you make the situation a little more tolerable by giving her the choice between her red sweater or her purple sweater. People, starting before they can even communicate, like to feel like they have control over their lives, and choice is one way of exercising that control. Being able to choose Option A between A and B is a lot more satisfying than just only having Option A. It's the psychological benefit of that choice, that control.

While human beings are just slightly more complicated than sweaters, the same concept applies. I have a friend who is dating a woman he originally dated back in undergrad. Since then he's been married, divorced, dated woman locally and across the country. But he said that they now finally realized and accepted how good they were for each other. Dating (and sometimes marrying) other people gives you an appreciation for what you have now. I'm not saying that before you settle down with the person you potentially want to spend the rest of your life with that you have to go out and play the field one last time to be extra sure. I'm saying that the experience of dating more than one person (not necessarily simultaneously) at some point in your life (hopefully before you meet your soul mate) helps you to be more comfortable with your ultimate choice because you have a better awareness of what your likes and dislikes are, as well as how your mate stacks up in the grand scheme of things. And also just because you actually have a choice.

So back to Donnell.......I get it now. Perhaps he went out and dated a few <s>psychotic</s> chicks and realized that his original lady really was the one for him (tho good luck getting her to come back.... that's a whole 'nother issue) or perhaps he realized she wasn't The One, thus saving them both from wasting a lot of time together (and making him, not Usher, the artist behind "Papers"). But at least now he KNOWS [insert GI Joe quote here].

*Also posted at Adventures in Divorce, 3/19/10

Say it with love, say it with meat

2010-03-08T15:11:00.003-05:00

I'm all about fairness and equality (even if fairness and equality aren't always about me), so in that spirit I want to share a little info about the guys' response to Valentine's Day.... yes, I am talking about Steak and Blow Job Day (or SBJ Day for short).

SBJ Day is on March 14th and is considered to be the complementary holiday to Valentine's Day just for the guys. It's your opportunity to really show your appreciation for your man ~~that you should be showing all year long, but that doesn't stop V-Day from being celebrated.~~

SBJ Day is about exactly what it says..... no flowers, candy, gifts, cards, jewelry, stuffed animals. Just a steak. And a blow job. That's it. You have to admire the simplicity of it really. I guess you could fret over which cut of steak you'll buy, or just which ~~Superhead inspired~~ "technique" you will use, but honestly, I don't think he'll care, and it's just another unnecessary layer of complexity that we women tend to put on everything (yea, I said it).

The origins of the holiday are somewhat ambiguous. It was founded some time around 2002, probably as a joke, but not surprisingly it actually took hold. Go survey 10 people in the grocery store, and I'm sure an overwhelming zero percent of them know about it. But I know about it, dammit. And now you do, too.

And because I'm such a proponent of fairness and an advocate of properly "showing appreciation", here are a few helpful ideas to make your SBJ Day experience a success:

Steak Recipes-- Steak is a pretty basic food to cook, but can go horribly wrong if not done right. Here are 3,008 recipes for beef steak to choose from, ranging from the basic to the complex. Here is a guide to how to choose a good steak and a guide to choosing the best cut of steak for various recipes. Or if your skills in the kitchen are lacking, you can always take him out for a steak ~~though it is much harder for you to serve it to him naked~~.

Alternatives for Non-Beef Eaters-- The name of the holiday just says "steak", but not what KIND of steak. If your man doesn't eat beef, here are some alternatives that are still with the spirit of the holiday:

Fish steaks -- Fish steaks are cut perpendicular to the backbone, as a opposed to fillets which are cut parallel to it. Salmon, swordfish, halibut, turbot, tuna, shark, sturgeon, and mahi mahi all make for good steaks. Here are some fish steak recipes for your non-bovine eating man.

Vegetarian "steaks"-- Thanks to advances in food science (or magic), there are a wide assortment of vegetarian "meats" including the vegetarian steak. Or you can grill him up a portobello mushroom which is considered the "steak of the mushroom world".

BJ Tips and Tricks -- Um, yea..... not gonna put myself out there and give away my personal secrets. I will say though that the key to a good BJ is effort and enthusiasm ~~and no teeth~~. If you approach it like a chore, it will be received as a chore. Ladies, it's not that bad, and if you are over the age of 23 still turning your nose up and saying "eww, I'd never"..... shame on you. Grow up, put on your big girl panties and handle your business (before someone else does for you). However, if your oral advocacy skills aren't quite up to par (or just need a refresher course), Sunny Crittenden's BJs 101 is a pretty good primer.

SBJ Day Cards-- not really necessary (since the name is not SBJC Day) but may be a nice touch, something to send to him early in the day in anticipation of what to come later (no pun intended, but feel free to use it). Remember, the most important sexual organ is between the ears. And the verses on the cards are actually kinda funny.

So there it is. No sense in feigning ignorance now.... you know what you need to do. So ladies, get your marinades and your lip gloss ready and show your man just how much you care.

Postal

2010-03-02T00:08:00.000-05:00

She really wants to stab you in your ear.

I work a job. It is not a career. I deal with 1) lawyers and 2) the general public, two groups who say and do the most asinine things. Everyday I think I'm about to go crazy from the things I hear all day, every day, without fail, so much that I can pretty much anticipate what a person is going to say when they walk through the door, with about 70% accuracy.

'Here are the top 5 (or so) things I'm sick of hearing in my office every single fucking day, and the response I REALLY want to give instead of smiling and nodding:

1) "Did you change the office around?" You've been coming here for 30 years, you old coot... yes, obviously we changed things around a bit. And it's been several months. If you had some actual clients, maybe you'd have discovered this earlier instead of being one of the people that reminds me of a very obvious fact every single fucking day and forces me to respond "Yes, we remodeled the office back in October."

1a) "Am I in the right place? It looks different." Again, muthafucker, you've been coming here for 30 years. Things change. Adapt. I would start saying no just to fuck with you, but I like my paltry pay check.

2) "Those are some pretty flowers!" They're FAKE, you numb nutz. Do you honestly think the government springs for fresh tulips-- purple ones no less-- just to decorate our shitty office? For $5.99 at Wal-Mart, you can have your very own and stop reminding me how awful and garish the ones sitting in front of me actually are, even if your old ass it too blind to see the fraying edges, plastic seams, and the fact that the vase has absolutely no water.

3) "I've been doing it this way for 30 years!" Well, idiot, that just means you've been doing it WRONG for 30 years, and perhaps it's just the case that the government lucked up in this shitty economy and hired someone with the intellect and the balls to actually call you out on it. It's my way or the highway right now, buddy.

3a) "Well my attorney told me to do it like this." Your dumb ass attorney told you WRONG, and he, like you, is a moron. I hope he's got his malpractice insurance up to date. Attorneys are not gods.... just because they say it doesn't mean it is true.

4) "This is the right form....I got from your website." No, you didn't. Please quit lying. Or go back and check the URL of the website you did get it from, because it wasn't any of OUR sites that you got that form that is 3 years outdated. But don't sit here and argue with me about the fact that you, your attorney, or your bank are too incompetent to get the right forms and make it seem like it's our fault for your shortcomings.

5) "I need to pay my taxes." Stop. Look down at the paper you are thrusting at me. What room does it say to go to? Now look at my door. Is that number on my door? No? Then get the fuck out of my office and quit making me get up and down unnecessarily causing additional stress on my bad knee because your ass can't read.

As a bonus, I need for people to grab a dictionary and use a modicum of thought to understand the following concepts:

Decedent (is not a descent)

Transferee (that's you, idiot... yea, the one getting the money)

Deduction (makes your taxable amount smaller)

Exemption (the amount you get tax free before the state sticks it to you on the rest)

Cause number (is not the cause of death)

Date of death VALUE (is not the date of death)

You asshat......

My heart weeps.... R.I.P. Eboni

2010-02-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

I was working on some other posts for you all when my friend called me this morning to tell me that my loctician, Eboni Dodson, was killed last night by a drunk driver. Apparently she was having car trouble and she and a few others were trying to push the car off of the road when a pick-up truck hit her car. The others saw the truck and were able to move out of the way but she was inside the car and was hit.

I've known Eboni for years.... she worked in the same salon as my nail artist and was a mutual friend of a good friend of mine so I've been to social gatherings with her a few times. Eboni started my daughter's locs two years ago, and I myself turned to her just a few months ago to start my new set of locs. I loved her sweet, funny, talkative, outgoing and overall positive nature.... just the type of person who should be cultivating and styling locs. I only had the chance to sit in her chair once, but was looking forward to the day when my locs were finally fully matured and I could return to experience more of her talent. Sadly, now I will never get that chance.

My prayers go out to her young child, her girlfriend, her family and friends. My heart weeps today over the loss of such a beautiful person. Rest in Peace Eboni.... you are loved and missed.

"If you are what you say you are..... a Superstar....."

2010-02-11T16:32:00.006-05:00

I have a confession to make: I'm jealous of you all.

Yes you. And you. And you and you and you. You out there in the blogosphere, you out there on Facebook, and especially you people out there with all your tweets on Twitter. Just green with envy.

Every single day I read about all of you who are getting up to go to church, on your way to your workouts, cooking your all organic whole grain co-op grown vegan meals, telling others how to have a dating life as fabulous and exciting as yours, espousing your positivity and wisdom and goals to save all the children of the world while getting your PhDs in astrophysics, the fabulous vacations you're going on, the designer clothes you're planning on wearing tonight, the hot club you're kickin' it at later, and let's not forget that perfect 0.5" x 0.5" pic of you in your Twitter avatar.... seems like everyone out there has their shit all together and life is just fabulous.

According to what I read in the blogosphere and the Twittosphere, you all are super healthy, spiritually balanced, perfect figured (wo)man magnets who are all educated and wildly successful. And ya know, that makes me feel pretty shitty sometimes. I'm divorced, under-employed, am officially "overweight" by BMI standards (although I would say I'm more in the zaftig category), I don't go to church, I drink too much ~~wine~~ Diet Pepsi, I'm grossly in debt, often moody, and spend way too much time on Twitter.

Let me repeat that again...... "spend way too much time on Twitter."

The realization that keeps me from flinging myself off my apartment balcony into the retention pond below to end my comparatively worthless existence is the myth of the Twitter Superstar. You know these people. Folks with 10,000 followers hanging from their short and curlies, the person whose tweets fill up every other entry in your timeline, the person who always has abundant wisdom and wit for the Twittosphere, telling you about all the wonderful things they're doing and how you should be living your life so you can be as happy and popular as they are. And for every tweet of theirs you actually see, there are 10 other @ replies to their friends that you don't see. If there's a break in their tweeting for more than an 30 minutes, you assume they have died.

Seriously..... how much can you really be doing when your updates come from the web like a rapid-fire automatic machine gun? And even for those with mobile Twitter apps, how much can you really be doing with your head down and thumbs twiddling away over your Blackberry or iPhone, firing off a tweet every 10 seconds to appease your Twitter Groupies?? As a self professed Twitter abuser I can tell you the answer: not much.

The unfortunate beauty of Twitter is that you only know what people tell you in 140 characters or less. And they can tell you ANYTHING. And I have on good authority that some of you wildly popular Twitter celebs have the personality of a tofu brick in real life. One thing I've noticed over the years that even in real life, there's a general rule that the more a person talks about how smart (or attractive, or well off) they are, the less likely that assertion is actually true. And I would be willing to wager that this rule applies to other sorts of boasting, because if you're really about something, you don't have to constantly beat people over the head with it by constantly informing everyone about it. And this is ESPECIALLY true in the Twittosphere where there's no way to cross check the veracity of your statements (at least on Facebook all of your status updates, wall posts, and pics have to jibe). Honestly, to everyone besides the Twitter Groupies, it makes you sound kind of douchey. Mildly amusing maybe, but you can save that seat on your jock for someone else.

As long as there is social networking, there will be those people who abuse the system to re-create the lives they wish they had, not the ones they actually have. But there's a fine line between selective sharing and the megalomania of Twitter Superstars. I just hope you have your next gig lined up..... cuz it won't last forever.

"If you are what you say you are.... a Superstar...... then have no fear........" ~ Lupe Fiasco, Superstar

My Chemical Romance

2010-02-10T11:53:00.000-05:00

(Originally posted on 9/21/09 at Adventures in Divorce)

No, not talking about this Chemical Romance:

I'm talking about THIS chemical romance:

That, loved ones, is the molecular structure for Oxytocin..... the chemical that induces labor (the synthetic form is Pitocin.... I'm sure every mother has at least heard of it), the chemical that is released during breast feeding that "lets down" the milk (otherwise we'd be leaving puddles of milk everywhere all the time) and causes bonding between mother and baby, and it's the chemical that helps us create emotional bonds with people in general. Oxytocin also reduces fear, increases eye contact, and increases trust and generosity.

It's also the chemical released in much greater levels in women than men during sex.

(Of course, there are other chemicals involved in this whole process, such as vasopressin and dopamine, and this is not intended to be a comprehensive lesson in the Science of Sex. My point is.... well, you'll see my point.....)

As much as I hate to concede biological and evolutionary defeat on this subject...... women biologically are unable to completely separate sex from love (or some other comparable emotional attachment) leading to many ~~busted windows and stalker behavior~~ misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Intellectually we may be able to say "it's just sex", but Mother Nature has other plans for us, and you don't go toe to toe with Mother Nature.... you will ALWAYS lose, even if you don't lose right away. She's like a Vegas casino.... you may get lucky on a few rolls or a couple of pulls, and may even walk away with a jackpot. But play long enough and eventually gambler's ruin sets in and you end up looking like THIS.

So let's take a look at how this plays out. Ladies, you meet a guy/know a guy and you get into a FWB scenario because, for whatever reason, a full blown relationship is just not in the stars at that time. And you're fine with it because you get your needs met without the drama, there's no expectations, and you're just having fun. For a little while. All the while that you're getting that Mighty Mighty O, your body is steady kicking out oxytocin, which is making your body form an emotional attachment with this person and doesn't give a damn about what your brain says. According to "What is This Crazy Thing Called Love?" by Dr. Shirley Glass, "A trick of nature induces women to bond with an inappropriate partner after sex because of oxytocin which enhances orgasms and increases a woman’s emotional attachment to her sexual partner. That may be why you keep the creep with whom you sleep." Combine this with dopamine (the "feel good" hormone, which also increases oxytocin levels) and you're REALLY hit. Basically you are addicted to the warm fuzzy feeling (i.e. high), and like anything else that induces a high (e.g. drugs) you're gonna go through withdrawal when you stop.

So now you have this otherwise irrational bond with this person which is the equivalent of chemically induced insanity because in your mind you know this person is bad for you, yet you still are saying "I wish I knew how to quit you". I must admit..... I've been there. More than once. And honestly, in hindsight, it's a scary thing. I look back on two individuals in particular and think "What in the HELL was I thinking???" The best way I can describe it is like in the cartoons where the character is under some spell, and their eyes are all glassed over, and then the hero(ine) comes along and breaks the spell, and then suddenly the victim comes back like "Where am I?? What happened??" Basically, you're just like Prince Eric in this scene from The Little Mermaid:

Waking up from your stupor doesn't usually happen that fast.... it takes a clean break and some time. But once you've broken that addiction, you're good. Any time I've tried to backtrack and replicate those original feelings it was ~~a monumental waste of time~~ never the same because I'd already realized he was ~~really Ursula the Sea Witch~~ not as great as I'd originally thought he was. But originally you couldn't tell me he wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, even with the logical side of me saying "Don't do it.... reconsider.... do some living." I was merely a slave to chemical romance (".... he was my Voodoo Priest and I was his faithful concubine......").

So, with all that said..... ladies, don't fool yourself into thinking you can maintain a long term Friend with Benefits. Short term.... maybe. And it might be a little easier if he treats you like a complete asshole. But who the hell wants to have a string of flings sufficiently short enough not to develop this chemical bond ~~and end up looking like a big ole slore~~? I used to think I was hardcore and cold blooded enough to manage it, but I'm officially waiving my white flag to Mother Nature. I don't mind being a slave to chemical romance, but only if my heart, mind and soul are imprisoned as well.

Those unruly teens

2010-02-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

So it's been about 3 months now since I started my second foray into locs, and I must say that I'm very pleased with the progress. A lot of people find themselves frustrated with the "teenage" phase of locs. They're no longer the cute little spirals that they were 2 months ago, but rather, just as the name implies, they are somewhat unruly and have a mind of their own, and are a little harder to control. It is during this phase that "budding" starts to occur and you have a perpetual case of the frizzies. This is the phase that deters most people from locking, especially if you're one of those people who can't stand to have a hair out of place. These are the same folks who will ooooh and aaaaah over your mature locs and tell you how they are "thinking about" locking (with their bone straight perm), but will talk about what a hot mess someone with teenage locs look. Insert your favorite cliche phrase here, but the one that comes to mind is "you can't make wine without crushing some grapes"...... oh, wait..... maybe it's "you can't make omelets without breaking some eggs." But I don't like omelets, or eggs period for that matter, but I do like wine. A lot. So we'll go with that one. In any event, basically shit has to get messy before it's perfect.

I have actually been quite enjoying the teenage phase this time around (I wish I could say the same thing about dealing with my son). My locs are the perfect size such that the ends are perpetual curly-q's, which look a lot like how my un-loc'd hair looked when I put gel in it and shook it out. The curly-q's sort of mask the chaos going on underneath. I'm also enjoying the fullness I get after 1 or 2 days following a re-twist. This is actually the look I was trying to go for when my hair was un-loc'd, but it would never stay that way for very long and was a pain to have to wet and gel all the time. Now I literally get up, take off whatever head covering I had on the night before, put a few drops of Carol's Daughter Lisa's Hair Elixir in my hands and vigorously tousle the fuck out of it. A fluff and a shake and I'm ready to go.

Products.... every natural girl's favorite subject. The most common discussions I read between natural hair ladies is about what products people recommend. And for good reason; the right products can make all the difference between hot and hot mess. Thanks to my very thoughtful beau, I'm currently using Carol's Daugther products in my hair, and I LOVING them. I use Black Vanilla Herbal shampoo (after washing my scalp with some t-gel shampoo cuz my scalp is quite mutinous) and retwist with Loc Butter. The gift set also came with Hair Milk and Black Vanilla Hair Smoothie conditioner, but conditioner on baby/teenage locs is bad (m'kay?) so I use it on my daughter's locs.

I had a bit of hesitation with using the Loc Butter because one of the ingredients is beeswax, which is a naughty no-no for grooming locs due to build up (and attracting dirt and causing stiffness). However, I've found Loc Butter to be satiny smooth, not tacky, and doesn't cause any more build up than Organic Root Stimulator Loc & Twist Gel, if not less. And it smells fantastic. And speaking of smelling fantastic, I am in love with Lisa's Hair Elixir. I wish I could cover my body in it (but then I'd have none left for my hair) because it smells SO good. Though I put it on my daughter's hair one day (because I was feeling generous, but normally I'm a product Scrooge) and she said "Ewww Mommy! Now I smell all herb-y!" I love the smells of pachouli, lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, sage, and all those other "herb-y" essential oils so it is perfect for me. My hair ends up smelling good, is shiny, and the loc butter gives it just enough hold (I hate skinny overtwisted locs on my head). Bueno.

Oh, and just in case it's not readily apparent, I haven't been back to my loctician since she first started them. I do my own washing, retwisting and styling. I think everyone with locs should at least learn how to do basic loc grooming (wash & retwist). Sadly, a lot don't. I really could do basic loc grooming as a side hustle, but I've already explained the reasons why I don't.

So there we are. Wild, happy, unruly, drama free locs. I love it.

*I would be remiss if I did not once again emphasize the dangers of product addiction. When it comes to locs, less is more. You could cultivate locs with 2 products: Shampoo and a light oil. That's it. All the butters and creams and gels and pommades are just extra grooming products and aren't going to make your locs form any faster. Just remember, the more product you put in your locs, the more product will be (and possibly stay) in your locs. So be easy.

Don't be a Love Hater (hater of love)

2010-02-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

February 1st..... the first day of Black History Month. It is also the start of the "I hate Valentine's Day" countdown. I am bracing myself for a sharp uptick in the number of anti-Valentine's Day tweets, blog posts, Tumblr entries, Facebook status messages, e-mails, gmail chats, and Blackberry messenger chats letting me know how stupid, pointless, unnecessary and generally deplorable V-Day is. I've never heard so many strategies and tactical maneuvers for NOT dating someone on February 14th just to avoid the whole fiasco. No other holiday in the history of American holidays gets as much rancor and hatred directed its way.

And I say: For what?

Personally, I love Valentine's Day, or at least I have no real beef with it. So what if it is a "man-made holiday" that is used to maximize consumer spending? Guess what? Most other holidays are as well. And we go right along with the rest of those. You don't see anyone throwing a fit and talking about "Thanksgiving is dumb.... I can eat turkey with my mama all year." And nobody ever gets pissed that they have to buy Marshmallow Peeps during Easter (you can get those year-round now, too.... though my biggest beef with Easter is getting dressed up and making a big to-do over church for one day and then you're never seen again til next year, or at least until the next holiday). And you can buy fireworks and have freedom all year-round, yet we still flock to fireworks displays on the 4th of July. All holidays celebrate principles that we should be practicing all year. So why smack Cupid on his cherubic bare bottom??

Whenever people's actions defy logic, the best place to look for the source of a problem is emotion. And I think several emotions play into this hatred for Valentine's Day: jealousy, bitterness, laziness, and resentment. Pay close attention to the people making the biggest fuss about hating Valentine's Day and you will usually find the person who is most bitter about being single, or are dating/married to someone who never bothered to do anything for them Valentine's Day OR who never appreciated their efforts. And for the guy who thinks it's dumb that he has to buy his lady a gift or take her out to dinner because he does that all year long (but does he really???), you'll find someone who just doesn't want to spend the time, money and effort on a gift; OR you will find a woman who expects her man to go all out and spend half his paycheck, in which case I could understand his disdain for the day. So instead of addressing their own personal issues or loneliness and resentment, the Love Haters attack the holiday. It is as if V-Day is a personal affront to their relationship status (or lack thereof).

It's a holiday, folks, and it's not that damn deep. Don't crap in the middle of everyone else's parade just because ~~this is the 5th year in a row~~ you don't have a date. Don't try and bring others to your special corner of misery by making them feel like they are stupid and materialistic or childish for wanting to celebrate Valentine's Day. And if you do have a boo-thang, don't feel pressured to break the bank on gifts and flowers and dinners. If your special lady only understands the phrase "I love you" if it's written in diamonds and on the stems of 5 dozen roses, maaaaybe you need to rethink whether this is someone you're going to want to try and keep happy for the rest of your life. Is it really going to kill you to play along? Are you compromising your morals and values if you buy a card and put some thought into doing a little something special for your loved one? Do you do anyone any good by telling the world how much you hate Valentine's Day simply because you're lonely ~~or are dating a succubus~~?

Like all other holidays, we too often focus on the materialistic portion and not the meaning behind it. Valentine's Day is about love, and I would say it's about love in all of it's many forms. My parents always bought us Valentine's Day candy and gifts--small gifts-- because they love us (Storge love). You can use the holiday to express your Philia love for your friends. And if it's just some banal Eros love, well, there are ways of expressing that on the holiday, too. There was one year where I'd just started talking to (dating?? I dunno) a guy and he was in town around Valentine's Day. Being the cheesy person I am, I bought him a card which basically said "I'm not trying to run off and get married and have your babies, but I kind of like you." I didn't panic about what I should get him or avoid his calls to not have to deal with the "how do I handle this?" questions or expect anything from him in return. Another time I got a FWB a Happy Bunny card/magnet that said "You're bad, and I love it/ I'm bad and you love it." There are approriate gestures for every person in your life (remember being a kid and trying to find the right Valentine for that 1 kid in class you hated? Yea, there was even one for him). Even if you just want to do a silly gag gift, that's better than just an outright condemnation of the holiday as a whole.

As a ~~dorky~~ person who loves (most) holidays, for me it's about going along with something I like to make me happy, not dazzling me with expensive jewelry or flowers. I just want to know that I was thought about and that some sort of efforts were made. It doesn't have to be extravagant (though I would never turn down diamonds or rubies) because money does not always correlate to thought. And guys, don't fall into the trap of your lady saying she doesn't want anything for V-Day.... she may say that and think she means it, but you're going to pay later when her friends got something from their men and she's trying to convince them (and herself) that she's glad her man was "smart" enough not to get her a damn thing and how "dumb" her girl's man is for cooking her favorite meal and serving a candle light dinner and giving her a one-of-a-kind @Chickenb00 handmade card. The fact that you don't do anything for Valentine's Day doesn't just say you forgot, but says you made a concerted effort to forget/avoid/not bother. And the fact that you're so vehement about not wanting anything probably means you don't think you're getting anything anyway (I know this lil psychological self-trickery all too well).

So, if you are a Love Hater, really stop and think about why instead of willy nilly throwing around your hatred for Valentine's Day at the rest of us. Because honestly it just makes you sound bitter, not smarter than the rest of us ~~romantic saps~~. Spread the love instead, loved ones.

(And yes, sorry guys..... Valentine's Day is primarily about the ladies. Next month I will highlight YOUR day, though.... the corollary to Valentine's Day: March 14th. Stay tuned. Ladies, you too. Cuz it's only fair.)

Nature's Happy Pill

2010-01-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Today I'm embarking on a new course of treatment for my various sleep and mood issues, which I've preliminarily concluded are very closely linked. My doctor kept trying to push a sleep study down my throat and I wanted to scream at him "I'm depressed, numb nuts, not sleepy!!" But as I sat at my desk sleepy as hell after what I thought was a full 8 hours of sleep, wishing that the windows in my building did in fact open, I started to explore the idea that maybe this guy did know something (so THAT'S what those degrees mean!).

Doing my own interweb research, I found out that sleep disorders and depression are closely linked, tho it is uncertain as to which one causes or complicates the other. Well yes, I guess I do feel a helluva lot better when I actually have a good night sleep, which is something entirely unrelated to how long I actually am in the bed trying to sleep. I keep thinking of a book I had as a child, "Sweet Dreams for Sally" which was a Care Bear book about a little girl who couldn't sleep because she was scared of the dark and how she was hella grouchy and unfocused during school.

Pretend Sally is me.

That's how I feel some days, wishing I had my own Bedtime Bear to help my tired cantankerous ass out. Instead I've been relying on adderall to keep me awake, which my friends and I have dubbed "praying to Little Blue Jesus" (if you haven't seen Talledega Nights and heard the various embodiments of Jesus.... well never mind then).

I've tried every depression medicine in the world (ok, not really, but it seems like it) and nothing really works that well. And thanks to my ~~bitchass~~ insurance company, I can't get the latest medicine my doctor prescribed to me anyway because they want me to try all the shit I've tried before that didn't work necessitating that my doctor prescribe me this stuff in the first place. So eff it.......today I'm going in a different direction. I got some 5-HTP from the natural foods store, which makes your body produce melatonin (which helps you sleep) and seratonin (a key brain chemical affecting mood) and I'm going to give it a whirl*. I also got some chlorella for energy and overall health improvement (I guess it works as a detoxifier), which seems to work for my beau. I'm sick of dumping more and more chemicals in my body, which might (temporarily) fix one problem while causing me a host of other problems which need more chemicals to fix. I know natural remedies work, but there are just so MANY. But I have to start somewhere, and this 5-HTP stuff kept coming up over and over as a natural depression remedy. I got a 30 day supply, so we'll see how things are in 30 days. I know I'm just tired of looking to Little Blue Jesus to get me through and would rather get some assistance from Mother Nature instead.

*Before you run out and get some 5-HTP just because I did, PLEASE do your own research AND consult with your physician first (even though I didn't, because doctors tend to frown on natural remedies because most just want to throw more drugs at you). 5-HTP can interact badly with certain medications, including anti-depressants that affect seratonin levels. The medicine I take doesn't affect seratonin, so I won't be dying from Seratonin Syndrome--which basically means you OD on seratonin--any time soon. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

An Introduction to Chaos

2010-01-03T23:58:00.000-05:00

What exactly is chaos? Most of us think of chaos in terms of complete disorder, disaster, bedlam, insanity, panic, craziness. What’s the visual that comes to mind when you think of chaos? Is it something like this?

Probably. However, there is a different way to look at chaos, both from a literal and figurative perspective. This, loved ones, is Chaos Theory:

In a scientific context, the word CHAOS has a slightly different meaning than it does in its general usage as a state of confusion, lacking any order. Chaos, with reference to CHAOS THEORY, refers to an apparent lack of order in a system that nevertheless obeys particular laws or rules. The two main components of chaos theory are the ideas that systems - no matter how complex they may be - rely upon an underlying order, and that very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex behaviors or events. Examples of such systems include the atmosphere, the solar system, plate tectonics, turbulent fluids, economics, and population growth.

The name "chaos theory" comes from the fact that the systems that the theory describes are apparently disordered, but chaos theory is really about finding the underlying order in apparently random data.

So, instead of the mess shown above, this is actually what chaos looks like:

Kind of pretty, huh? The image is a Lorenz attractor, which is one visual depiction of a chaotic system:

The Lorenz attractor is a chaotic map, noted for its butterfly shape. The map shows how the state of a dynamical system (the three variables of a three-dimensional system) evolves over time in a complex, non-repeating pattern, often described as beautiful....Systems that exhibit mathematical chaos are deterministic and thus orderly in some sense; this technical use of the word chaos is at odds with common parlance, which suggests complete disorder.

(Thanks Wikipedia!)

Now that you have your daily dose of nerd, let me get to the point of all this geekdom. We can think about the craziness of life-- i.e. Chaos-- in two different ways. One way to look at it is like the first image-- a completely disorganized disaster that appears to be impossible to get through. Or we can look at chaos in the way science does-- it may seem random and disorderly, but over time the bigger picture is revealed to us. When something seemingly bad happens-- or even good-- it is not enough to assess the situation as it exists today. The one occurrence isn't the end of the story. Sometimes, if we reserve judgment and let the chaos unfold, it turns out to be more beautiful than we ever imagined when we first laid eyes on the situation.

So what about the intersection between chaos theory and fate?

Where "fate" often refers to an unchangeable path or destiny, chaos can refer to a similar concept, only the outcome is not predetermined as it is with fate or destiny. Often events are attributed to "fate" when they may in fact be chaos. For example, one person may see many seemingly random events and determine that fate caused all of the events to take place so that a specific outcome could be reached. The chaotic view would be that many random events occurred, and the result was derived out of mere happenstance or coincidence. The difference here is that one person believes that everything happens for a reason, and that their course is predetermined, the other believes that random events have a very profound effect on one's life, but that the result of said events was not necessarily 'meant to be'.

Whether you believe is its fate, destiny or chaos, it's all the same in the end (I kind of think the Trafalmadorians had/have/will have the right viewpoint all along) . You have seemingly random events that occur in your life that serve to set you up for the next occurrence in life (this is also related to the Butterfly Effect). While we should try to live in the moment, we must also be mindful that this moment leads to the next moment, and so on and so forth, and that the purpose and significance of this moment may not manifest for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. I believe the answer lies somewhere in between fate and chaos.... all of these occurrences happen to nudge us in certain directions, or set us up for the next occurrence, but ultimately we choose which path to follow. The Most High lays out the terrain for you, but ultimately you choose the path. If a tree falls in your way, maybe that's not the right path. I'm not saying that every single occurrence is a sign or guidepost, but they are definitely there in the seeming randomness and it's our job to pay attention. There's no such thing as a coincidence and happenstance, loved ones. Divine order often looks exactly like chaos.

So as you go along in life and find yourself in the midst of seeming chaos, remember to stop and think that perhaps you just have to let things unfold to see the beauty of life's design.

We'll just pretend this never happened.....

2009-12-28T22:01:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. The thing I've been privately threatening to do for the past month and a half, but never really had the courage to publicly admit. I got tired of the curiosity fueled by all the stories of how it was so great and wonderful and life-altering. So after much internal struggle and debate, I mustered up the courage and did it.

I bought a Snuggie.

Since I have now ~~become incredibly lame~~ spend more time at home ~~out of trouble~~ watching movies, my interest in lounge comfort has increased. And since I despise Old Man Winter and all the misery he brings, it is very important for me to be warm and comfortable as I lounge. Literally my favorite place in my apartment is my bed under my ~~aging~~ down comforter, all soft and snuggly and warm ~~next to a nice piece of African-American man candy~~. But since I no longer have a TV in my room, I want to feel just as comfortable out on the couch as I watch my Netflix movies as I am in my bed.

When I first heard about the Snuggie (and the more expensive Slanket) I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. A blanket with sleeves?? Just wear a freaking sweatshirt, I said to myself. But even more disdainful were the obnoxious infomercials, particularly the one where the dog sits in his Snuggie and a pair of glasses while dude raises the roof in his Snuggie:

*retch*

Then I started hearing about people doing bar crawls, and plane rides, and other such public activities in their Snuggies, which was a complete turn-off (the Snuggie Sutra did raise an eyebrow, though). The Snuggie craze was getting out of hand, and if there's one thing that makes me break out in hives and run for the hills, it's mainstream hype.

But..... I'm human. I started hearing the testimonials of friends on Twitter, people whose opinions I (somewhat) trust, and whom I don't considering to be ~~bandwagon hopping douche bags~~ easily swayed by mainstream hype. Thinking, independent minded, rational people were talking about how warm and cozy they were at home with their Snuggie, remote and hot chocolate on a cold Friday night. I sat back quietly, observing the Tweets of people whom I'd never imagine would be caught dead in a Snuggie talking about how they wanted one or how much they loved theirs. And I admit, I was a wee bit jealous.

At first I tried to drop the hint that I might want one for Christmas, thinking that someone would trip over it or see it as an easy grab requiring little thought and would snatch it up. I figured that if I didn't actually buy it myself I wouldn't be giving into the commercial machine. But no dice. Everyone was a lot more thoughtful than that this year. So the other day I was going through my mail (a once a month endeavor) and came across a 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon, and my brain began to plot against itself. I was having trouble justifying paying $15 for a Snuggie, but if it were only $12, well, then that's a whole different story. I thought I was going to go hang out and watch Monday Night Football and eat free wings at my local watering hole (emphasis on the word hole) tonight, but due to unforeseen circumstances my presence really wasn't a good idea. Instead I was stuck at home alone catching up on old episodes of Nip/Tuck (again) and I thought to myself, "Self, you would have probably spent at least $12 on beers tonight, so why don't you use that money to make yourself more warm and comfortable at home instead?" Guess I must have bought my own argument because off I went with my 20% coupon to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I walked through the sliding glass doors, firstly embarrassed to be in a store such as Bed, Bath & Beyond (I'm more of a Pier 1, IKEA and Target housewares kind of girl) and secondly even more embarrassed that I was giving into the marketing machine and actually going to get a Snuggie. Right at the door I almost tripped over a display of Snuggies, both for humans AND dogs. However, they were all blue, and there was an old lady sitting next to the display staring at me, so I figured I'd venture further into the store and hopefully find more ~~privacy~~ color selection. I loitered by the reed diffusers for just a little bit too long looking for a scent to replace the obnoxious lavender that came with the diffuser my mother bought me (reminds me of lavender public bathroom air freshener; I like more earthy scents), admittedly stalling. After finding nothing that suited my olfactory senses or my wallet, I set off in search for what I knew had to be the Main Snuggie Display. As I approached I was disappointed to find that all the adult Snuggies were blue (I really wanted a red one), but as I walked around the display I saw them: two lone boxes of Wild Side leopard print Snuggies.

Let me stop and clarify: I hate animal print, especially leopard. It, along with gold lame, reminds me of my ex-mother-in-law's horrific and tacky sense of style (notice that it's a heteronym for LAME). Yet I stood there for several minutes debating between the plain blue Snuggie and the Wild Side Snuggie. Ultimately I decided that since I was getting something so obnoxious and ridiculous as a Snuggie, I might as well go all out and be as obnoxious as possible and get the leopard print, also ensuring that I would not have a stroke of insanity and actually think it was ok to take the damn thing out of the house. It would be my own dirty little secret. *rubs hands like Mr. Burns*

I get my bounty home, take a shower (so I can fully relax), heat up my leftover Khoresh Fesenjan, cue up season 3, episode 8 of Nip/Tuck, poured myself a glass of sparking grape juice, and then opened the package. It was just as obnoxious as I dreamed it would be. I unfolded it, slipped it on my arms, and......

I was pissed.

This is it?? It felt like someone's failed attempt to make a deluxe hospital gown. Sure the front was covered, but what about my ass?? My ass was cold! I tried wrapping it around my backside, but the oversized shoulders kept slipping off, and to wrap it all the way around made it feel like a cocoon. I would have had to put another blanket under the Snuggie so my tush would not freeze on my leather couch. And I'm not a tall woman, maybe slightly above average height, but I had the damnedest time keeping my feet covered as I sat in my chair. Then there was the "super-soft plush" claim..... it felt like a cheap blanket that I could pick up at Big Lots for $12.99. Maybe it was just the Wild Side Snuggie that wasn't all it claimed to be (because I was assured that I must be doing something wrong and that others' Snuggies were not like that), but for whatever reason, I wasn't impressed. After about 5 minutes of attempting to love it as much as everyone else does, I gave up on it. Instead I went and got my almost, but not quite, just as obnoxious black Baby Phat 3/4 length robe that my mother got me for Christmas (it's trimmed in leopard) that actually IS super-soft and warm and keeps my buns toasty. I've been assured that the Slanket is superior to the Snuggie, but my robe, coupled with either some lounge pants and socks or a blanket burritoed around my legs, works just fine for me, thank you very much.

As for the Snuggie.... it is now shoved back in the box getting ready to go back to the store tomorrow, where I will get my money back and go buy myself some beers.

Can't say I didn't try.

That New Ish: Formspring.me

2009-12-26T18:31:00.002-05:00

So now this seems to be the new hot thing in the blogosphere and the world of social networking. As if randomly sharing my mental outbursts on Twitter isn't enough.... now you can ask about all the spaces in between that I don't spontaneously reveal..... anonymously if you're so inclined.

So go ahead.......ask me anything. You know you want to: http://formspring.me/DaughterOfPriam

One Month Down

2009-12-14T16:00:00.008-05:00

Wanted to update you all on the progress of my loc journey. About a month ago (November 7th) I started my second set of locs after having a ~~personal crisis~~ need for change in my life. Well, it's been a month so far, and here's where things stand:

Although my loctician had advised me not to wash my locs for 2 months (?!?!!) I couldn't take it anymore and went against her orders and washed it a few days before this picture was taken. Cleaning my scalp with astringent just wasn't cutting it, and if anything was making my scalp go berserk (I have dermatitis issues that get worse in the winter). I also work out at marital arts class 2 to 3 times a week. I needed water and soap.

So here's what I did: I rubber banded the ends of my hair in about 5 sections in attempts to minimize untwisting. I didn't use the shower head to wet my hair; rather, I used a water bottle and poured the water gently over my head. This was to cause the least amount of disturbance to the coils. I used T-Gel shampoo (remember, no "creamy" shampoos cuz they contain conditioner.... a no-no for new locs) which I applied using my fingertips and gently rubbed my scalp. Again I rinsed using the water bottle. I wrapped a towel around my head for several minutes and squeezed, not rubbed, to dry off the excess water. The goal in this whole process is to hold the coils intact as much as possible.

I retwisted my hair using double prong clips, diluted setting lotion and a very small amount of Organic Root Stimulator Loc 'n Twist Gel. I didn't really use a palm rolling technique since the twists are still mostly hollow coils, but instead I very gently twisted them with my fingertips to smooth down the loose hairs, useing just enough ORS gel to barely coat my fingertip. I finished off with some oil and let it dry. Everything turned out beautifully, although it was a little flat at first, but a few days and an evening of sweating in tae kwon do class took care of that.

I've since switched from using astringent in between washing to using witch hazel, which also has astringent properties but contains a lot less alcohol to dry and irritate your scalp. I do this about once a week and very gently retwist (over twisting can cause breakage). I just can't go weeks without doing anything to them, one because of my scalp issues, and two because I believe that just because you have locs it does not mean you cannot groom your hair.

So far I am absolutely loving my hair and am not regretting starting over for one minute. I think the curly-qs at the ends are rather adorable, and I'm starting to see the beginning of budding about 1/2 inch from the roots which I'm very excited about because it means I can shampoo more often. I'm still taking things slowly because, like many things in life, when you get to eager and rush you make mistakes. But so far, so good.

Stay tuned for more updates, my pretties!

A Heart of Paper

2009-12-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

Last night I ~~spent a lame Saturday night at home alone on the couch~~ watched the movie Paper Heart, which is a documentary about love written and produced by actress and comedian Charlyne Yi (Jodi from Knocked Up).

(sorry, that's one of my favorite scenes.... I just had to include it)

Basically, Charlyne doesn't believe in love, doesn't know what love feels like, and doesn't ever believe she will be, or is capable of being, in love. So she sets out to interview people from all across the country to find out what is this thing called love, where to find it, and how you know that you're in it. The movie takes an interesting turn, however, when she meets Michael Cera (Paulie Bleeker from Juno) and the movie shows the real-life evolution of the relationship between Charlyne and Michael. Throughout the entire movie, Charlyne denies that she is in love with Michael, and insists (and believes) that they're just friends. There's one part (and this is in the trailer, so no spoiler) where she's interviewing a little girl who claimed to be in love with Chris Brown and the girl tells Charlyne that she's in obviously love with Michael, which Charlyne vehemently denies and replies "I'm not in love, YOU'RE in love!"....... and then the girl says "At least I admitted it!!" (Out of the mouths of babes.....)

I would have to say that this is the best movie about love that I have ever seen. Period. (no @DatNUPE) Forget The Notebook, forget Love Jones, forget Titanic (and Wall-E?? I saw this on a "Most Romantic Movies" list). These movies are the reason why people like Charlyne (and most of my friends) don't believe in love or that they are in love. These (fake) stories are presented to us as the truth of what love is, what it feels like, what it looks like, and how it happens. It's all passion and fireworks and butterflies and monologues. Paper Heart, through it's interviews with various couples and in seeing the development of Charlyne and Michael's relationship itself, reveals that's not the way it usually goes down.

I really identified with Charlyne and Michael in this movie and saw a lot of parallels to their relationship and my own. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but basically when they first met it definitely wasn't love at first sight, definitely didn't involve the traditional ideas of romance. But while their and many other's stories of "how we met" was lackluster by Hollywood standards, in hindsight there is something endearing in even the most bizarre, obscure, and inappropriate (a-hem) meetings and first dates. And relationships don't always follow the pattern of Boy meets Girl + Boy goes on dates with Girl + Boy and Girl realize the other is "the one" + Boy proposes to Girl + Boy marries Girl = love. There are many crazy twists and turns, start and stops, detours, loss of direction and surprise destinations. But with our Hollywood images of love we often don't recognize the other ways in which love arises, and thus are lead to believe we are not in love. Love is not only blind, but also deaf, dumb and directionally challenged.

This is my "how we met" story (sorry if you've heard it or read it before on AID): I was heading out to a Memorial Day barbecue and was pissed cuz the guy who I had been kinda dating (mostly talking to actually, cuz gas was $4.35 at the time) who was supposed to come with me canceled on me in favor of going to another (female) friend's event. I had to stop to put the tags on my car since it had almost gotten towed by my bitchassed apartment complex for being 2 weeks expired. As I was squatted down in my long hippie skirt and tank top, he walked by with his roommate and son. They stopped and introduced themselves, I introduced myself, and we went on our separate ways. I honestly thought nothing of it. A few days later I was at the pool with Mini-Me and I saw him again walking up to the leasing office, and he stopped to talk (asking me why I was at the pool at noon on a Tuesday) and handed me his card (which, BTW, is the classiest way to hand out your number) and told me that they sometimes play cards and drink with some other people that lived in his building. I used the card as a bookmark. Maybe that day or the next I came across the card while reading and for some reason sent him a text telling him that I don't play cards, but I do drink. This was completely, totally and utterly out of my character. Guys introduce themselves to me all the time and I NEVER reach out to them. I was also trying to get out of one dysfunctional and unhealthy "relationship" and get into another going-nowhere relationship, plus my divorce had just been finalized, so the last thing I was looking for was a new boo-thang. After that I invited him over to chill that Saturday. Something about him just put me at ease and it was so easy to talk to him, and I don't typically do well with new people. Longer story a little bit shorter, we drank, went to my Saturday spot, I introduced him to Djarum Blacks, went back to his place, threw up all over his toilet, and we had sex (thus our inside joke about Vanilla Mint Listerine). Romantic, huh? And we've been kickin' ever since for the past year and a half.

Was this love at first sight?? Happily ever after?? I could leave the story there and lead you to believe that. Assuming that I'd put myself into the automatic jump-off category, I kind of X'd him off the potential boyfriend list. He was also younger than me, really into the fraternity thing (which I'm not) and gave me a copy of a Lil Wayne CD, which caused me to (mistakenly) put him into the category of "typical" (but once he gave me a Little Brother CD, and I saw the can of yeast flakes on top of his fridge, I started to think maybe there was a little more to him). We hung out for months with no label, telling people that it was nothing, that we were just friends. I remember being out once a few months after we met and one of his friends asked about me, and he told him that I wasn't his girl and he could go ahead and holla (which hurt my feelings a bit, honestly). My friends kept asking me what the deal was with us, and I kept telling them I didn't know, probably because it wasn't smacking me in the forehead with the cliche stars and butterflies. I knew I liked him, I knew I liked spending time with him, ~~I knew I liked having sex with him,~~ but there was none of the typical Hollywood romance.

The same thing happened with Charlyne in Paper Heart. Their "romance" consisted of hanging out together, playing music, eating at crappy diners and chatting on IM. Likewise, my beau and I spent a lot of time chillin' on the couch watching free cable, eating home cooked meals and drinking cheap booze (Aldi Winking Owl Chardonnay and J. Roget champagne were staples). It took us a year to go on our first "real" date. But despite all that, I had fun.... he made me laugh, we had adventures (like our 3 hour excursion from the south to the west side looking for a movie and something to eat, only to end up right back at home doing the same thing I'd originally suggested: Chinese and DVD), and it didn't matter that it didn't look like the Hollywood version of romance.

Hindsight is 20/20 though, and I'm still a product of my social environment, so of course like an idiot I missed it for a loooong time. And I think this is not unusual. I talk with my friends about guys they are non-dating, and it's obvious that they like-like each other, but there is this resistance to the thought that maybe this is love, or at least the beginnings of it. Or, like Charlyne, they don't think they have ever been in love and aren't sure what love feels like. All they know is what the movies and songs tell them is supposed to be love. But how can you know you've never seen something if you don't know what it looks like?

I hate to tell you this, loved ones.... there is no definitive sign or feeling to look for to determine if you love someone aside from the basic requirements that you enjoy spending time with the person, you care about the well being of this person, and if the person were gone you'd be really bummed. But, you say, that's how I feel about all of my good friends! True. And that's why love is so hard to spot, because it does, and should, look a lot like friendship. There's definitely something more to it, though...... like I have good friends that I love to death, but I can go weeks or months without seeing them. I can't say the same thing about my beau..... through all our ups, downs, drama and break-ups, from day one I don't think I've never gone a week without seeing him. Because it hurts my soul not to see him. And I'm not even the type of chick that needs (or wants) someone up under her all the time. It's like the floater that you pay an extra $2 for in your drink..... there's that extra something that takes it to the next level.

Anyway..... see Paper Heart. Seeing and hearing the stories and viewpoints of the people in the movie gives a great perspective on love--real life love--much better than any blogger, song or romantic movie can. Then look around and see if maybe you've been missing something and that all this time love has been right in front of you.

"It's a dangerous necessity..... a world famous mystery...... love." ~ Mos Def

DOP[e] Mind Music

2009-12-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

I've started a new thing on Twitter that I called Daughter of Priam Mind Music, or, as it's hash tag labeled, #DOPMindMusic. I got the idea from Got SOLE Boutique, who pretty much only Tweets the music currently playing in the shop (it's some good ish, too). And, like Got SOLE, most of the time people post songs they are currently listening to.

My list is a little different.

First of all, I LOVE music. I couldn't imagine a world without it, or how people drive without it, or how people are not interested in it period. I can't say I'm a connoisseur who knows every song title, artist, album, producer and sample origin, but I can just say I love all types of music. I don't believe in only sticking with one genre, or completely excluding a genre. Good music is just good music.

Secondly, I don't know what everyone else has going on in the background of their mind throughout the course of the day, but in my head there's always music. When I'm sitting around thinking about nothing in particular, or working on something mundane, or really just all the damn time, I have a melody or a hook or a line playing in my head. I hate the question "What are you thinking about right now?" because honestly it's rarely anything profound, and most likely the honest answer is going to be something like "The hook of Bonita Applebum by ATCQ" or "'What kind of fuckery is this? You made me miss the Slick Rick gig. And thought I didn't love you when I did.....' from Amy Winehouse's Me and Mr. Jones." Everyone gets songs stuck in their heads, but I have a whole iPod playlist stuck in my head about 85% of the time.

So the other day I had Guns 'n Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" and Dude 'N Nem "Watch My Feet" playing in my head almost simultaneously and was thinking "Where in the hell did these come from??" So I decided to start posting in real time what songs were going on in my head, and created the #DOPMindMusic hash tag to keep track. So far there have been songs such as:

Missy Elliott | Pussycat
Jodeci | Cry For You
Dvorak | Slavonic Dances
Kimya Dawson | Loose Lips
J. Dilla | One For Ghost & Don't Cry
Bilal | Love Poems
DJ Quick | Bomb Bud
Mavado | So Special ("I'm so special, so special, so special...")
Outkast | Stanklove
Dido | Thank You

The music spans all genres and decades. Sometimes a song in my head is triggered by something I see or hear, but most of the time it's completely and utterly out of the blue (although, perhaps my subconscious picked up on something). If I consciously try and put a random song in my head, it doesn't work. But I've just been trying to catch myself and keep track of the various songs that run through my head throughout the day.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it this yet, or if I'll do anything at all, but like all my blogging/tweeting/journaling, it's interesting to see if there's a pattern over time. Or maybe I'll make actual playlists. And actually I would LOVE if someone (i.e. a DJ) would take the list and make me a schweet mix. *hint hint*

Perhaps this means I'm crazy.... I dunno. But this is just a little insight into one of the ways in which my brain works. Hope you enjoy my Mind Music.

Santa, baby... been an awful good girl

2009-12-10T00:58:00.001-05:00

Comes now, the 4th Semi-Annual Wish List of Things I'd Really Like to Receive as Gifts But Won't, or, more simply stated, my Christmas Wish List (I also do one for my birthday with the same concept). My lists always range from the perfectly doable to the next to impossible, so feel free to select one or more gifts within your means, money or magic-wise. So..... wanna hear it? Here it go:

1. Some 2 gauge plugs and/or tunnels for my ears. I recently went down from zero to 2, and I gave all my 2s away except for 1 pair (cuz they were girlie). Something like these:

2. A silver Tiffany necklace. I have a lock pendant that my ex husband bought as somewhat of a joke, as if to say he had me on lockdown...... um, yea. So what I want now is a key. I control the locks, I control the access, I control me:

3. A cruise. Somewhere in the Caribbean. Or Mexico. I'm not picky.

4. A trip to Las Vegas to stay in the Luxor Hotel. Mmmm, Egyptian Musk and money.

5. ~~A Snuggie~~. Ok, I really don't want a Snuggie. But yet, I do. I'm just too ashamed to admit it. *hides face*

Just look at all the possibilities!

6. A ball python. Yes, I know I neglected my first one....I know. I was going thru some thangs. But I promise to do better this time.

7. A better paying job. Nuff said.

8. A new iPod. I've finally accepted that mine is old and janky. I just want another Nano. No fancy iPod Touch. Or maybe an iPod Classic. Surprise me.

9. A broadsword. No, not a real one, just an aluminum one for class. Like this one:

10. Some earrings from For Love 21. Or just a plethora of inexpensive, funky earrings from anywhere. Mine seem to have all simultaneously disintegrated.

11. A bottle of Versace Bright Crystal. (I'm almost out)

12. A Sephora gift card of any denomination.

13. A corset, perhaps something similar to this:

14. And of course, to go along with the corset (or not, cuz I already have garters), some back seam stockings (preferably Cuban heeled):

15. A silver Twitter username necklace from Survival of the Hippest (@DaughterOfPriam in case you didn't know). Yes, I know it's trendy, and I'd probably only wear it a few months, but it's cute and it's actually related to my real name.

16. Anything, so long as it's thoughtful and from the heart. I'm not a materialistic person... not even close. But I appreciate gifts that people had to think about-- a red velvet cupcake, a box of Chick-fil-A sauce, a set of Anne Taintor pictures, handmade jewelry-- all of those things mean a lot to me because the person had to listen, pay attention, and care. Money can't buy that.

Happy Holidays (I'm not going to list them all out), loved ones. Hope you were good this year.

Got my Tweets in the Clouds

2009-12-02T00:05:00.001-05:00

Words..... oh how I love them. The written word more so than the spoken. Word choice says so much about a person, and very writer has a certain "feel" to their writing that you sense on a subconscious level when you read their work. But what if you could actually quantify that feeling? Well, I did.

Below is my Tweet Cloud containing my most frequently tweeted words (in no particular order), and below that is a list of the most often used words ordered by most to least used:

words (ordered by most used)

time
love
hair
feel
locs
movie
baby
makes
maybe
look
people
blog
damn
watching
kids
life
nite
wanna
actually
hate
post
thru
soul
black
gonna
getting
real
home
trying
feeling

Just by reading down the list you can get a feel of my personality and what I focus on most often when I do my (seemingly) random Tweeting. I found it very interesting that my top 3 words are time, love and hair......

Still not getting the picture ~~even though I just gave you a picture~~? Well, Analyze Words does exactly what it says.... it analyzes your tweets and actually "reveals" your personality traits based on how you use words. *brief logogasm* Ok, I'm back. Anyway, it breaks it down by emotional style, social style and thinking style (in the Twittosphere at least).

Analysis of tweets from daughterofpriam
(2243 most recent words - 1st December, 2009)

Emotional Style

Upbeat (Low)

Worried (High)

Angry (Average)

Depressed (High)

Social Style

Plugged In (High)

Personable (Average)

Arrogant/Distant (Low)

Spacy/Valley girl (Average)

Thinking Style

Analytic (Average)

Sensory (Average)

In-the-moment (High)

( you can see a full explanation of the categories, here: DaugtherOfPriam's Word Analysis)

So apparently I'm worried, depressed, "plugged in" (which means I engage with people on Twitter often.... not just some creepy lurking cyber stalker), and "in the moment" (talking about what's going on in the present moment, today). *kanye shrug* Eh, I guess.... the words don't lie. Unless they do. Oh never mind........ I really don't think I'm that bad off, I just have a very dark sense of humor, kind of Daria-like. I guess you can't measure everything, some things are just best left to feeling.

No, I will not do your hair

2009-11-24T22:54:00.000-05:00

Back in the good old days when I had a full head of long, happy, mature locs, I used to do my own hair. I had my locs started by a loctician, but I quickly figured out how to wash and retwist them myself ($65 every two weeks is one helluva incentive to figure it out). It's not rocket science and locticians aren't doing anything fancy in a basic loc grooming appointment. I would reserve my trips to the loctician for color and trims, and maybe the occasional special occasion style. After awhile I started to figure out how to do more than just retwisting and loc grooming. I read discussion forums and watched YouTube tutorials (Shawnta715 has some good ones) and just started playing in my locs. Roller sets, crinkles, flat twists, up-dos....I taught myself to do all that. Because my hair was hardly ever worn straight down the way most people are used to seeing locs, I would get tons of compliments with people asking who my stylist was. They were astounded when I said I did my own hair.

And then the dreaded (no pun intended) question would inevitably follow from any guy (and a few women) who himself had locs: "Can you do my hair??" I've always seen it as a lame attempt at a pick up line, but even if it's not and you really just want need someone to do your hair, the answer is still the same: NO.

And here is why:

1. I don't KNOW you!! I'm not about to be all up in your house or have you all up in mine doing your hair! I don't know what sinister plans you may have for me at your place, or whether you'd believe that the lame pick up line actually worked and assume that I'd accept payment in sexual favors. I'm really not cool with just anybody knowing where I live either. I have stranger danger, and that's just.....no. McGruff the Crime Dog would be disappointed.

2. Whatever you're gonna pay me isn't worth it. There's an element of economies of scale with stylists. They are getting $50+ per head all day, every day. They have all their supplies there and ready to go. And in bulk. I would have to take time to go to your house (but see #1), bring all my products (because obviously if you are needing someone else to do your hair, you don't have much by way of your own), and work with some ill equipped bath tub or shower (I have a WaterPik.... it's great, but still not a shampoo bowl), which is way more time and hassle than the average stylist who is set up to do hair. Add to that the fact that you will probably want a hook-up on the price, and after all that $40 just wouldn't be worth my time.

3. I only deal with the dirt of people I love. Being that you don't know how to groom your own hair, I would be willing to guess that it doesn't get done as regularly as it should. And by regularly, in my world that's once a week to every 1.5 weeks. Washed, oiled, retwisted, everything. I have a 15 year old son who plays football and lives with his dad, so I've seen (and smelled) what neglected locs are like (as much as I'm on him about doing his own hair regularly). I will get down and dirty and use some elbow grease (and clarifying shampoo) to get all the dirt and buildup out of my kids' hair, but I birthed them and have been dealing with their disgustingness for 15 years (diapers, puke, sweaty uniforms, etc.) Yours.... um, not so much.

4. Doing hair is kind of.... well.... intimate. My weakness.... the thing that will have my knees weak and, um.... well yea..... is for someone to play in my hair. There is nothing like a good scalp massage. Stylists are different because they tend to be very business-like with their hands (i.e. heavy handed) even though it still feels good. But when I do hair, I have to get a little more involved in the process because this isn't just another day at the office for me. First of all, think about washing.... I don't know too many people with a shampoo bowl in their house (except for my friend's momma who still did curls for those who just couldn't let go), which means that I have to be leaned over the tub scrubbing locs (because, see # 3 above, it probably needs it). I'm not too comfortable with having my DDs hanging 5 inches above your head for 20 minutes while I wash your hair (even though you might be). Plus it makes my back hurt, so add that to # 2 above. Then the retwisting..... keep in mind I've been doing my kids' locs for 5 years, and for 5 years my goal has been to cause the least amount of pain (i.e. crying) as possible. No matter how frustrated I get, doing their hair has always been approached as a labor of love. And for that reason I only do the hair of people I care about, because I really have no other motivation.

5. There's a mirror image problem. This particularly is an issue when doing styles (which are most often requested by women). Styling my locs with my hands above my head while looking in a mirror is a totally different thing from doing a style with someone sitting in front of me. My hands, arms and eyes are used to seeing and feeling my hair in a certain way. The different approach is disorienting and it just doesn't come out the same. I can throw some flat twists in my hair in 5 minutes, but doing the same thing to my daughter's locs takes a bit more effort. I would hate for someone to come to me thinking they are gonna get the same style they see on my head and end up with some travesty of a style instead.

So what's the lesson here, loved ones? Just because a person has locs does not mean we do locs. Stylists chose that profession for a reason, and on the flip side I did not choose it for a reason. So if you ask if I can do your hair and I hesitate or outright say no (my usual response is "I only do my and my kids' hair... that's enough"), don't take it personal. Unless you are my friend-- and a good friend at that-- do not ask me to do your hair. And even in that case, see # 4 above.

Really, what everyone with locs should do is learn how to do them yourself. It's not mission impossible. Locticians aren't doing anything magical up there. Twist and clip, that's basically all it is (maybe I'll give you a step-by-step blog post later). I did the equivalent of throwing my son in the swimming pool by refusing to do his hair again until he learned how to do it himself, and eventually he did (and I agreed to do his hair for him again, but now he can keep it up in between seeing me). In this economy it would behoove you to take an evening, pull up a YouTube tutorial and just try it. That way when you have that extra sweaty workout, or walk through that raging dust storm, or want to go swimming, you don't have to wait til your next appointment and drop $75 to get your hair back looking right. Then eventually random people in the mall will be asking you to do their hair, too.

Maybe.....

2009-11-17T19:05:00.000-05:00

Zen Koan titled “Maybe”.

(A Koan is a story, dialogue, question, or statement in the history and lore of Zen Buddhism.)

A farmer’s horse ran away. His neighbors gathered upon hearing the news and said sympathetically, “That’s such bad luck.”

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The horse returned on his own the next morning, and brought seven wild horses with it. “Look how many more horses you have now,” the neighbors exclaimed. “How lucky!”

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next day, the farmer’s son attempted to ride one of the wild horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. “How awful,” the neighbors said. “It looks like your luck has turned for the worse again.”

The farmer simply replied, “Maybe.”

The following day, military officers came to town to conscript young men into the service. Seeing the son’s broken leg, they rejected him. The neighbors gathered round the farmer to tell him how fortunate he was.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

****************

This koan is a perfect illustration of my attitude toward life that has gotten me through everything of the past few years.... my divorce, my job change, and all the upheaval in between. When you're going through a divorce -- or any major life change for that matter -- it's easy to feel like everything is going wrong, you life is destructing before your eyes, and it's tempting to view every setback as the worst thing that could possibly happen.

The reality is that we never know what life has in store for us next, and what events in life are setting us up for the next good (or bad) thing. I can't even describe all of the positive things that have arisen from the negatives in my life over the past 2 years..... people I've met, relationships I've formed, experiences that I've had, opportunities that have arisen. It's important to open up your heart and your mind to the possibilities of life.... THAT is what will help get you through the hard times. So the next time something seemingly bad happens and you're thinking that your life has just taken a turn for the very worse, just stop and think...... maybe.

(Originally posted on AID on March 9, 2009)

***************************************************

Or, if you're not into the Zen thing, here's another way of putting it:

"Sometimes life leaves a hundred dollar bill on your dresser, and you don't realize until later that it's because it fucked you." @shitmydadsays

(For)give a little

2009-11-16T15:18:00.001-05:00

Forgiveness Mandala

Recently I completed an exercise on http://www.radicalforgiveness.com/ called the Radical Self-Forgiveness/Acceptance Worksheet. It is a counterpart to the Radical Forgiveness Worksheet (which I have not yet completed).

The purpose is pretty self-explanatory..... it's an exercise to help you forgive yourself or someone else. Many people throw around the word "forgiveness" and don't truly understand or appreciate what it means. "I forgive you" does not simply mean "I'm not ~~busting out your windows~~ throwing a fit every time I see and talk to you" or "I just won't talk about it anymore." True forgiveness is truly letting go, and that's the end of it. One of my favorite definitions of forgiveness is "Giving up the hope for a different past." When I say that you can't go back and change the past, people think I am being flippant and dismissive. No, I mean exactly what I am saying..... I CAN'T go back and change anything. Last time I checked, the DeLorean was not sitting outside my apartment building. So to truly forgive is to quit hoping Doc shows up to scoop you (or the other person) up.

So at the suggestion of another Twittizen (@basseyworld) I went to go check out this Radical Forgiveness Worksheet. However, when I got to the site I realized the person I most need to work on forgiving first is myself. Self-forgiveness is the hardest type of forgiveness because we are constantly in our own heads with the negative thoughts about ourselves swirling about. We feel like we shouldn't or can't forgive ourselves, especially when we are in a situation where we don't feel like the other individual(s) involved have forgiven us. After all, why should we feel good about ourselves when nobody else does?

But this is flawed thinking. You cannot wait around for someone else to forgive you before you forgive yourself, because they may NEVER forgive you. They may always be mired in the past wanting you to go back and make things better, or dwelling on the fact that you can't and taking every opportunity to remind you of that ("woulda", "shoulda", "coulda"). Forgiveness of yourself is mutually exclusive of forgiveness received from other people. Even when there is nobody else to forgive you for some real or perceived wrongdoing, there is still a need to atone. Well, atonement can only go on for so long before it starts to eat at you from the inside out. At some point you must say "What's done is done. I'm sorry it happened, but I can't change that it did. That does not define who I am, and I am allowed to release the feelings surrounding it and move forward with my life."

So what is this Radical Self Forgiveness/Acceptance Worksheet thingy all about? It's an online form that takes about 30 minutes to complete (or more, depending on how much you write). It starts off with detailing what you have done/failed to do and how you feel about yourself over it. It's kind of brutal, especially if you've never taken the time to admit it to yourself (this includes admitting it in such a way where you're not enveloping it in justifications and excuses). After you have stated your feelings about yourself and the situation, you then work through a series of questions where you are asked to recognize and accept those feelings, and that there is purpose behind what happened by answering Accept, Willing, Open, Skeptical or Unwilling. A few of the statements that stood out most to me were:

"Even though I don’t know why or how, I now see that my soul has created this situation in order that I learn and grow."

"I am willing to see that my mission or ‘soul contract’ included my doing this thing for whatever reason." This one was particularly interesting to me once I read the definition of a "soul contract":

A soul contract is an agreement that we made with other souls, prior to coming into the human experience, to carry out certain pre-planned missions — to balance karmic energies, to heal group pain, to raise consciousness around some issue, etc. Who could possibly know what the mission really was? We just need to be open to the possibility that the situation we have guilt around might have involved a soul contract and, if there are others involved in the situation, they may well have been the other souls with whom the contract was struck.

(Sidenote: One question that I couldn't really "accept" was the notion that nothing anyone has ever done is right or wrong because it is just all part of the divine order. The best I could do was to put "Open" because while I know that in every shitty situation there can be something good that results, I do have an awareness of right and wrong.... can't just be out here all willy nilly saying that it's just all part of the divine plan. Even if it ultimately is.)

Next you work through a series of statements in which you release your negative feelings and forgive and accept yourself.

Easy, no??

Naw, not that easy. I felt a little better after I did it, but I can't say it was some miraculous instantaneous transformation. I printed out my answers and have reviewed them once or twice, and each time I feel just a little teeny bit better. You may not feel instantly absolved, but at least it's a start and gets you thinking about yourself and your life and your feelings and other people's lives and see how they all inter mesh.

Try it. It might be helpful. Might be a little too New Agey for you. If you're not really a person who gets the concept of Divine Order (I definitely do..... I have a HUGE tattoo of her (the Egyptian goddess Ma'at) across my back, which you can see in the picture in this post here) and spiritual energy, you will probably use this worksheet to line your bird cage. For everyone else, it really is worth 30 minutes of your life.

The Family that Kicks Together....

2009-11-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

....sticks together!

In the beginning, I was a white belt....

In March of this year I started taking martial arts with my daughter as a way to have an activity that we could both do together. She started taking classes in December and I ended up getting talked into putting on a (free) uniform and taking a few classes along side her. At first I thought it was kind of corny and only did it because my daughter was in it and seemed to enjoy it a lot. As I got into it and started moving up in rank, I really started getting into it and actually enjoying it.

I'll admit... I really don't like or have the self-discipline to exercise. Treadmills and bikes are just boring.... running and cycling to nowhere just doesn't appeal to me. Martial arts, on the other hand, gives me more structure and a goals to actually achieve. While trying to master tae kwon do routines, kung fu forms, weapons and kicks (and soon sparring), a nice side effect results.... I work physically (and mentally) harder than I've ever worked before, walking out of each class drenched in sweat. Since April I've dropped two sizes and developed better muscle tone (I love feeling on my flexed quads... yea, it's a bit narcissistic). I also like the idea of being a bad ass and the thought that maybe one day I could beat someone up (but only if I really needed to). I also still achieve my original goal of connecting and bonding with my daugther through working together toward a common goal, and our friendly competition because she's a rank ahead of me.

So this past weekend we went to our first tae kwon do invitational tournament.... well, my daughter competed anyway (I just couldn't afford for both of us to compete this time). Mini-Me made me SO proud, coming in first in her division in forms and second in board breaks. Stay tuned for my debut in the next tournament hosted by our school in March.

Check out my Mini-Me as she does our tae kwon do form.... Bad Assery, Jr.:

And you should also check out our instructor's incredibly impressive performance at the tournament. His entire family are bad asses. Wow.

Randomly Numbered Haiku No. 294: Overslept

2009-11-14T10:46:00.003-05:00

Dreaming of the ball
Woke up late and discovered
I'd slept all through it

To Write Love on Her Arms

2009-11-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

If you were a follower of my old blog, you know about my personal struggles with depression and anxiety. I was very candid about my experiences in hope that maybe I could connect with someone out there to let them know that they are not alone. Sometimes just reaching out to people in that manner makes a world of difference.... just to let them know you empathize with what they are going through.

Well, now is your chance to do the same.

Friday, November 13th is To Write Love on Her Arms Day, a day to raise awareness about depression, self-injury, addiction, and suicide.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

To Write Love On Her Arms Day is a day where anyone can write the words LOVE on their arms, to support those who are fighting against depression and those who are trying to recovering. On this day, just write love on your arms, and show it off, other people will ask why you have love written on your arms, and you tell them you are supporting to write love on her arms day, and how its benefiting a non profit organization helping stop depression, and make love the movement.

About Depression:

121 million people worldwide suffer from depression. (The World Health Organization)
18 million of these cases are happening in the United States. (The National Institute of Mental Health)
Between 20% and 50% of children and teens struggling with depression have a family history of this struggle and the offspring of depressed parents are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression. (U.S. Surgeon General's Survey, 1999)
Depression often co-occurs with anxiety disorders and substance abuse, with 30 percent of teens with depression also developing a substance abuse problem. (NIMH)
2/3 of those suffering from depression never seek treatment.
Untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. (NIMH)

About Suicide:

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year approximately one million people die from suicide, which represents a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000 or one death every 40 seconds. It is predicted that by 2020 the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds.
In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 (male and female). Suicide attempts are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicides.
Mental health disorders (particularly depression and substance abuse) are associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide.
However, suicide results from many complex sociocultural factors and is more likely to occur during periods of socioeconomic, family and individual crisis (e.g. loss of a loved one, unemployment, sexual orientation, difficulties with developing one's identity, disassociation from one's community or other social/belief group, and honour).
In the US, overall, suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death for all US Americans, and is the third leading cause of death for young people 15-24 years.
Although suicide is a serious problem among the young and adults, death rates continue to be highest among older adults ages 65 years and over.
Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than are females. However, females are more likely to attempt suicide than are males.

(stats from To Write Love On Her Arms website)

HELPLINES - IF YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO:

National Hopeline Network (U.S.A.) - http://www.hopeline.com/ - 1-800-SUICIDE

S.A.F.E. Alternatives - http://www.selfinjury.com/ - Self Abuse Finally Ends

Childhelp – http://www.childhelp.org/ - 1-800-4-A-CHILD - National Child Abuse Hotline

National Domestic Violence Helpline - http://www.ndvh.org/ - 1-800-799-SAFE

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network - http://www.rainn.org/ – 1-800-656-HOPE National Sexual Assault Hotline

National Eating Disorders Association - http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ - 1-800-931-2237

If you or someone you love is struggling with mental health issues such as depression, addiction, self-injury or suicide.... PLEASE get help. Don't ignore them, don't ignore yourself. This isn't a joke, or an attention seeking thing, or something someone can just "snap out of". This is a real medical issue that too often gets ignored. Please.....

And so it begins.... again

2009-11-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

That's it....I couldn't take it anymore. I desperately miss my locs. Yes, that first set had to go, and I'd had all intentions to "enjoy" my un-loc'd hair... the curls, the two-strand twists, the afro puffs. But I've come to the conclusion that ~~I hate doing my hair every morning~~ locs are just more.... Me.

I went to a new loctician/natural hair stylist this time named Eboni. For reasons I'm not going to go into here, going to my old stylist just wasn't in the stars (but mainly because he never responded to my messages). It's cool because it fits with this whole notion of "change" and I'd seen Eboni's work on one of my good friends, plus she did my daughter's locs (my stylist wouldn't do kids' hair). I had her start them smaller this time and she did them perfectly... the size seems to conform much better to my natural curl pattern and (so far) seems to stay better. I'm still taken aback from time to time when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror because it's just so short.... the shortest it's been in over a decade. But.... oh well. It's hair. It'll grow back.

So for anyone out there who has ever been curious as to how locs "work", I'll enlighten you with a few of the basics of the loc cultivation process:

1) You don't have to "do" anything to locs to create them.

One of the most common questions I used to get was "how do you get your hair to do that??" The simple answer is... nothing. Locking is a completely natural process in which the curls of the hair intertwine with each other over time to form locs. If all you did was simply quit combing your hair, you would eventually end up with locs (albeit rather lumpy and uneven locs, better known as "freeform" locs). Yes, I go to a loctician for the initial twisting to form the base pattern for the locs, but after that it's all about time and proper care. Retwisting and palm rolling are grooming techniques, NOT locking techniques. You may do a search for locking techniques and come across sites that talk about backcombing and such.... this is NOT for black hair. Locs on caucasian hair (or any other extremely fine hair texture) is a totally different thing. Black hair locs on its own.

2) People with "good hair" have locs, too.

In the month since I took my locs down, I've been telling people that I eventually planned to start another set. The response across the board has been "Whyyyy?? Your hair is so PRETTY!" or, the response that makes me cringe, "Girl, you've got that 'good hair' why would you want to loc it?" (the term "good hair" makes me see red). When I went to my appointment, Eboni tried to talk me out of starting my locs, even jokingly refusing to twist my hair. Yes, coarser hair textures tend to loc easier.... in fact, that's the main reason I started my daughter's locs, because combing her hair was torture (for us both). But locs aren't just a last resort for those who are happy to be extra nappy. But "good hair" will loc, too. It may take a little more patience, but that aspect actually appeals to me. Everything worth having is worth working and waiting for.

3) Locs can (and should) be washed..... but just not at first.

This is my least favorite part of the locking process. I'm used to washing my hair at least every 3 or 4 days. Eboni said not to wash my hair for the next 2 MONTHS, meaning basically I can't wash my hair until 2010. Not to get all Mr. Wizard on you, but water breaks the molecular bonds between strands of hair. This is why curls (and presses) die in humidity and rain. When locking, you want those strands of hair to stay as close and intimate as possible until they start to intertwine and tangle together. Before you say "ewwwwwww!" let me stress that not washing does not mean not cleaning. During those initial few weeks (and in between periodic washings) the scalp should be thoroughly cleaned with an astringent like SeaBreeze.

(Tip: if your boo-thang has locs, sitting and helping them SeaBreeze their scalp is a great way to ensure that your night ends happily. Trust me.)

4) When it comes to products, more is less.

You don't need any products to form locs. It's very common for new loc-ees to get excited and join all kinds of forums where people are telling you to try this product and that product, and before you know it you're a product junkie. People will espouse to using bees wax or pomades or gels that are supposedly designed to form locs.... wholly unnecessary. Not only will this stuff build up in your locs, but it also attracts dirt. Think about what happens when you spill something sticky on the floor and don't clean it up all the way. You know how that spot gets dirtier than the rest of the floor? Yea, same concept. This was one big eff up that I made with my first set of locs. I used way too much Organic Root Stimulator Loc 'n Twist gel, noticed it was building up, then tried a regimen to remove the buildup. Well, in the process I basically removed the budding locs.... or rather, the buds (the part that starts to tangle) came unraveled and slid down the locs, making them lumpy and uneven. Eventually they looked ok, but my hair never really recovered from that initial screw up and they were always lumpy in some places.

Basically all you need is a light oil (shea butter or olive oil based oils are good, as well as a few others), water and some setting lotion. The only product I might recommend is the ORS Loc 'n Twist gel, but even this should be used very sparingly. Run your finger over the surface of the gel to put just a thin coating on your fingertip. Again, I will stress.... locs form on their own. The products do NOT form the locs, just groom them.

5) The main key to locs is patience.

There is no way to speed up the locking process. It's all about time. It takes at least 9 months to a year for locs to form, and even after that they continue to mature and firm up. The locking process starts about an inch or two from the root with "budding". Small masses of tangled hair start to form that look like... well.... buds (yes, those types of buds). These buds continue to extend down the loc as the hair further intertwines and the locs mature. If you want to read about the 5 stages of locking, you can find a good blog post here. For me, locs are a labor of love, and it's something that many people admire but few have the patience to actually do.

So, ready to see the beginning of my new crown? *drumroll*

*claps hands excitedly* (and yes, that is my kung fu uniform, and yes, they actually held up pretty well through my workout)

So there it is. I'll keep you periodically posted and updated on the progress (for anyone who's ever wanted to know how all this works). With my first set of locs I had a whole blog dedicated to my loc journey. I think it's gone now, though.... it may be some poor abandoned zombie blog out there in the blogosphere.

"You're a part time lover & a full time friend....."

2009-11-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

I am not a mushy girlie-girl. I'm very much womanly, but not girlie. Traditional romantical [sic] stuff is ok and all, and I like it every once and awhile, but I like real, customized romance that fits my idiosyncrasies. After all, it's about the people in the romance, not the abstract idea of romance.

So, this is more of my idea of a good love song.....enjoy:

You're a part time lover and a full time friend

The monkey on you're back is the latest trend