Reaching 10,000

Today was a bad day for blogging.

Let me warn you now that today wasn’t my best. I was too distracted to even force something out. As always there are bits and pieces I love. But more than anything, I’m just happy to get some words out. Also, I’m very impressed with the feedback on my last blog. Thank you again to all those who are the support I need. Anyway… happy reading. =]

Celia.

I don’t want to change my name, any more than I want people to pronounce it correctly. I consider myself to be one who enunciates her words, but if that’s the case then why does Celia turn in to Julia, or Priscilla? Cece turns into Stacey. Some people’s listening skills are beyond me.

Guitar Hero and Migraines.

I’ve come to the realization that Guitar Hero is probably what is causing my migraines. I did not have one, or even a headache for that matter, until I started playing the game. I’ve been a bit addicted and those songs last for way to long. I find myself looking away from the screen and my vision is causing whatever I’ve fixed my eyes on to sway. Maybe it’s a combination of writing everyday, thus I’m staring at a screen for a couple of hours, and playing immense amounts of video games. Oh what ya’ll didn’t know? I’m a gamer. So that must be it. Guitar Hero and writing. I only have one choice. I’m giving up writing. SIKE!

Borrowing words.

Have you seen the movie Finding Forrester? I have. And let me tell you, it’s my favorite movie of all time. It combines my life right now, basketball and writing, minus the old white man as a mentor. Well, one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Jamal, the Black basketball player turned genius writer, is going through a case of writer’s block. Forrester, his very old white mentor, gives him an essay of his and says to just start typing. Start copying his words until they become his own. I thought this would be a great idea to do so I asked Phillip to start something for me and I’ll do the same for him. Well, I’m a little impatient and I found something I loved and want to start with it. So here it goes. (Oh and of course I’m not counting those words!)

Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you're really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I've got a few missing. It's ok though, because I've got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the 8-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean there are so many different colors of life, of feeling, of articulation... so when I meet someone who's an 8-color type... I'm like, hey girl, magenta! And she's like, oh, you mean purple! And she goes off on her purple thing, and I'm like, no - I want magenta!

Life is exactly like a box of crayons and had I not been nosey enough to snoop through a conversation between two of my cousins I would have never even thought about the analogy. I definitely consider myself at this point a sixty-four box with the sharpener in the back, but I think the difference between me and most is I’m striving to be that 120 box. I need some more colors in my repertoire. I look at each different color as a personality trait, a skill, or a piece of knowledge. However not every box is the same. We could both be on a sixty-four box level but what’s in my box may be very different from yours.

I have found that over the past few days I’ve been yelling Magenta at people and they always shout back purple and in some cases they shout back blue, those are those four box kids with the big fat ass crayons you use in kindergarten. Everyone is different and I cannot blame them for that. However, I’ve found that during the course of the summer, I’m going to stop fucking with four and eight box folk and get me some sixty-four colored people on my team. I need people I can learn from, someone who can show me colors like cerulean and robin’s egg blue. I need someone to trade me for the colors I do not need or do not use for something they have. I need someone to be my buddy sitting side by side on a coloring book, each helping each other out on the pages. I need someone to teach me about the colors I don’t know or might not like and allow me to do the same.Life is exactly like a box of crayons and all I want is magenta.

The Problem with Black youth.

Do you want to know what the problem is with our Black youth? It’s the lack of great black sitcoms. Today, all we have is College Hill and Everybody Hates Chris (I know College Hill is not a sitcom but it might as well be scripted), and needless to say, both of those shows are a straight up waste of space. I mean, I really like Everybody Hates Chris. That show is hilarious. But there are so many typical black stereotypes and racial undertones it’s ridiculous. The older black shows consisted of the same. However, there was always a message behind each show.I do intend on writing a deeper piece on the effect quality black sitcoms had on black America. But for right now, I just want to teach you a lesson I was taught yesterday…

Life Lessons with Martin Payne.

It is summer time. And that means I have all the time in the world to reminisce over a few seasons of martin. That’s right all sixty episodes of the first and second season. I plan on purchasing the rest by the end of summer.

Well in this particular episode Martin and Gina open up their first joint bank account together since becoming engaged. Gina, being the woman she is, is obviously more excited than Martin. Martin asks Gina how they will divide up the money. Gina says, “its no more mine and yours, it’s ours.” That’s the last thing she needed to say.

Lesson number 1: Do not ever say ours… about anything.

I’m not in a relationship and the reason is most likely due to my selfish ways of thinking. However, until I am married to anybody, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours. There is and never will be any ours. I’m not saying don’t unselfish acts, like buy gifts or offer to pay every once in a while, because that is the right thing to do. There should be an obvious balance. But, what I am saying is don’t give anyone free reign. In order to control the spending, you must be the one doing the spending. There is a big difference between offering and taking.

Now in case you guys are not familiar with the show Martin, Gina is this big ad exec at her job and Martin makes next to no money working as a radio DJ for WZUP radio in Detroit. Well, Martin and his boys, Tommy and Cole, go to a electronics store to purchase a television. When they walk in Martin says his budget is $400 nothing more nothing less. However, once inside they spot the Hoshitoshi 2000, the biggest big screen TV. allowed by law. This Arabic salesman is hustling Martin into buying the Hoshitoshi 2000. There is the typical devil and angel story with Cole being the devil telling Martin all the reasons why he should buy it, and Tommy being the angel telling Martin he's being hustled. Bickering happens and to make a long story short, Martin walks out with the Hoshitoshi and says, "It's not half mine or half hers, it's all mine."

Life Lesson 2: See?

See what I mean? Gina got taken advantage of. Martin went from spending the allotted amount of $400 to $2,300 on a TV that won't even fit in his living room. If Gina would have listened to me in the first place none of this would have happened. If she wanted to purchase that TV for her man, so be it. But she didn’t even get the chance. The minute it went from mine to ours, it went to none.

The story progresses with Gina stopping the check on the TV and making Martin buy a new little one called the Bitch 200. It was pink and had a little heart on the antenna. It was too girly for me let alone a man’s apartment where men tend to hang. Martin is obviously fed up and goes to Gina’s apartment to find that she is not there. When Gina arrives she’s pulling in this big plastic bag muttering about bread. Come to find out, Gina bought a $300 bread maker. Martin and Gina have yet another fight and Martin tells her to take it back.

Lesson number 3: Two can play that game.

Martin was a fool to think it was just him up to trouble. Gina did the same thing so she has little to no room to be mad. It happens, more often than not. So a little advice, don’t go doing things you don’t want done to you. Because it will happen, and usually it’s tenfold.

The episode ends just as it should. Martin and Gina hug kiss and make up. They both end up going back to their respective stores and buying the bread maker and TV for each other. However, right after they exchange the gifts there’s a knock at the door. There’s a delivery man dropping off the Hoshitoshi 2000 for Martin. He was smart and bought both.

Lesson 4: Do what’s right and do what you want.

If you don’t take anything from this edition of Life Lessons with Martin Payne, take this, do what you want. Do exactly what you want to do. If that means appease the person you are in love with, so be it. But if it means doing for them and doing for yourself, that’s fine too. Selfish? Of course. But that doesn’t mean a damn thing. Martin did what was right, whatever the fuck he wanted to do.

Peace and Love

(10% of the way there… 10,324 words and counting.)