Dedicated to My Sister-Friend, D.C.

As I mentioned before, music rules my life. It is the core of my very existence. I move to it, breathe it in, exhale. If they ever invented a reality show, "Guess This Singer", I would be the reknowned champion , because I'm so good recognizing singer's voices. Oh how I loves me some good soul gripping, eye tearing, makes me wanna lay up under, on top of, swoon to it, kinda music. Whew!
And so tonight I'm up on the PC, listening to my favorite playlist and I start thinking about past loves and past lifetimes and me and my bestest girlfriend, D.C. D.C. is my closest friend, you know the kind of friend where if they ever leaked your info, you'd know exactly who to come for 'cause you ain't told no one but them and after you bless them out, y'all won't speak for weeks but as soon as something comes up you're running over to them- that's us! Well me and DC both love music but I'm a little more passionate for it. I've always been the supplier of the newest CDs in our lives.
As we've grown up, we've grown a little apart with varied stages of maturity but one thing I truly miss about our early 20s is when we chose theme songs. Usually there were theme songs for the summer, a new love, the New Year, and just about anything going on in our lives and not just the newer songs but some oldies too. We hardly have time to sit with each other and listen to a full CD together like we used to but tonight I'll do this solo for me and my sister-friend, this is to us! I miss you DC!

For our season of heartbreak:

"Bruised But Not Broken" - Joss Stone

"Officially Missing You" - Tamia

"Almost" - Tamia

"I Don't Wanna" - Aaliyah

For our season of happiness:

"Girl They Won't Believe It" - Joss Stone

For our season of [love] confusion:

"Gills & Tails" - Amel Larrieux

"Feelings" - Floetry

"Another Again" - John Legend

For our season of letting go:

"UHaul" - Angie Stone

"When A Woman" - Tamia

For our season of falling in love:

"We Can Be New" - Amel Larrieux

"Become Us" - Tamia

"Last First Kiss" - Tamia

"Sittin on the Job" - Tamia

For our season of being confident:

"Me" - Tamia

Our favorite party song of '07:

"B.U.D.D.Y" - Musiq (Soulchild)

Happy Friday!!!? Almost...

For the most part, I try to be a positive person, perky, optimistic. But every now and again another being seems to inhabit my body and mind and I'm not perkiest of peoples. Today is that day.

I took the day off of work yesterday and I literally tore my house apart and put it back together again, orderly and functionally. That felt so good. I downloaded new music to my MP3 player. That was so great for this morning's train ride.

--And on a side note, it has the nerve to be hot & humid in NYC today. I love sunshine as much as I love the rain but this entire week has been dampening, dreary and today here's this burst of sun and heat. It is alllll good though--

So I'm saying all of that to say... Lord please bless me with a wonderful weekend with lots of sunshine, Your beautiful people and Your joy.

Living in da hood!?!?!?!

I absolutely love my apartment. It's huge and well furnished and when the sun is out it shines through the windows and onto the floor - it's beautiful. But don't lurk outside of the apartment building because there just ain't no tellin' what you may find - trash in the hallways, week old birthday cake on the floor, potato chip bags on the elevators or worse - wet footsteps in the hallway due to the little kiddies playing in the darn fire hydrant.

It just so happens to be cooling off in NYC but a few weeks ago it was humid and sticky, night and day. However I'm fuming because the hydrants are still on. Yes that's right. 5-0 is outside every morning parked in their little buggy but they can't turn the hydrant off. This weekend the temperatures will reportedly be around 75 degrees but that water will still be flowing, I'm sure of it.

Now I believe secretly they want us to deplete our water supply because, God forbid a fire breaks out before summer is officially over, but our water pressure is so darn low now... I can't bare to continue... But when in the world will they get tired of the rushing of water from the hydrant? Around Thanksgiving when the rushing water turns to ice? This is ridiculous.

I'm a tattle-tell and I have no problem calling the police or the fire department for anything. I used to have the number to report fire hydrant openings programmed in my cellular because if I turned the corner and the hydrant was open, I was a'calling the authorities to SHUT IT OFF! This summer I got lazy about it, which is why the hydrants continue flowing and I can't believe that me and my mom are the only 2 people on that whole entire block who make those phone calls. That can't be. Maybe the authorities don't care and decided "nah we'll just let those kneegros waste water".
The thing is rent is cheaper in the hood. The rooms tend to be bigger and once you settle in and get comfortable... who wants to move and rent an apartment with smaller space and more than anyone single person can afford? The going rate for a decent studio apartment in NYC is $750. I pay a little more than that for a 3 room apartment. Ya feel me?
About a month ago a friend of mine came to visit and the elevator wasn't working so he had to walk up to the 4th floor in the heat with his asthma acting up. I apologized profusely. Then 2 weeks after he came by again and this time the hydrants were flowing - all 4 of them! I was terribly embarrassed. He assured me though saying "look here shawty, it ain't nothing but a thang, I live in 'da hood too boo".

SellOut

About 2 weeks ago I was at home listening to the radio because music truly does rule my world. For instance I have a radio in every part of my home, the bathroom, livingroom, kitchen, bedroom. Well not every part because there are none in the closets yet. So I'm listening to the radio and I hear this really nice song that speaks to my heart, "Bruised But Not Broken" by Joss Stone. I wasn't really a fan of hers before hearing the song and so I bought the CD. It's ok. There's a few cuts that I love and I swoon to. The fact of the matter is that the girl can sang and I like good music so what in the world am I trying to say...?

Am I a sellout?

See a few months ago I bought the Amy Winehouse CD and I heard "Rehab" on MTV and I was like whoa who is that chick singing about going to rehab sounding very much like she's got some kneegro in her blood? I ran and bought the CD and was blasting it in the car for a whole weekend straight when my partner turns to me and says "ok, this girl is all right but you know you're a sellout".

I've been relaxing my hair since forever began and buying 2 CDs by really great sounding vocalists makes me a sellout? She could come a little better than that. And she better be glad I didn't bring over my Alanis Morisette collection or my John Mayer because that boy has a special place in my heart.

I'm a good music lover not a Black music lover because let's face it, not all Black people can sing and I am talking about the Black people with recording contracts not just the brothers and sisters you hear sweating and wailing in church or the ones you hear on public transportation who have to know that if they blast their MP3 players and sing at the same time that they are loud and wrong.

Well I'll be that... a sellout for listening to cuts like "He Can Only Hold Her" by Amy Winehouse, "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morisette, "Your Body Is A Wonderland" by John Mayer or "What Were We Thinking" by Joss Stone. I love my music from Aretha Franklin to Ziggy Marley and all of the musical genres in between.

What in the world....

What in the world am I creating a blog for?....
Have I not enough to do with my life? Of course I do, I could be doing some much work right now. I could be doing work for my extra activities (church). I could be emailing my friends whose emails and phone calls I've yet to return. But I ain't.
Because I've got these words in my head that I'd like to journal but hey that would be for my eyes only and wouldn't it be spectacular if I put them out in cyberspace for anyone to read...? Sure it would be. So that's what I blog for. We're individuals with shared experiences and dang it some of them are funny as Idon'tknowwhat and some make you shake your head with wonderment and some just frustrate the mess out of you. That's life for you.