Who needs coffee when you come out the front door on Monday morning to find this?
For those of you who live in Philly, as well as those who don't Roosevelt Blvd is pretty NASCAR-esque in terms of driving. There's been plenty of times that I've heard crashed, skits, and tire screeches during the time I've lived here. Plus, there was a time when an SUV (where the passengers were high, couldn't speak English, and the woman was trying get away on the next bus because there was the suspicion that she left her kids home alone), hit a street light right next to our house. Not to mention the the Boulevard was made news several times over the course of a few months because alot of pedestrians got run over.
Thus, after an uneventful weekend, I leave through the door that faces the Boulevard and find this:
So after several seconds of
O_o!?!?
...
O_O!?!!?
...
O_O!?!?! O_O!?!?!?! O_O!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? WTF!?!?!
You get idea...
There's also quite of few pieces of fender strewn on along the front grass, and a heft skid mark from the street to the sidewalk. I think this must have happened sometime in the early evening when we weren't home, and since we came in through the back door, we wouldn't have noticed that. This definitely didn't happen during the middle of the night because I wouldn't be writing right now on the count of severe panic attack if I saw or heard it.
Thank goodness for Homeowner's insurance, and my insistence that my mother call the cops so we can at least get some clue about what happened.
A moment of history in this mid-term election. Nancy Pelosi, who I don't know much about, except right-wing pundits like Sean Hannity whipped the Bush base in a froth over her "San Francisco values." is the 1st woman to become Speaker of the House. She's got her work cut out for her, and I hope she and other newly elected Democrats don't heed what the some of the left have said over the years and "be more like Republicans." Sadly, some of this shit has already started in the grassroot area. In a comment section of a post at Crooks and Liars, posters are already saying that Senator Macaca should just give up and concede, thus not demand a recount. Thank God that there's are plenty of people who said if he wants one, let him have one. If it comes in that his opponent won, then we can cheer about having his ass handed to him. It has to be fair and square all the way around. The last thing the new and incumbents need to to is to be more like their opponents, what they need to do is Get. Shit. Done. Period.
That's not to say that I want to new and incumbent Democrats to let bygones be bygones. Sure, they should get it together in terms of Iraq, corruption, raising the minimum wage, the economy, etc. But they should hold Bush to the fire for his arrogance.
In Bush's recent speeches, he's going on about bipartisan leadership. Right, Mr. "Decider" and "Stay the Course" wants to get all Kum Ba Ya all of a sudden. The sad thing is that the most truthful thing he's said in a long time is that he was "disappointed" with the election results. If I were elected (even though I'd be an Independent), I'd take quite a few opportunities to throw Sir Smirk-a-lot's words in his face. For instance, after that bullshit speech he made about bi-partisanship, I would have said: While the Democratic party appreciates The President's efforts to reach across the aisles, I as well as other Americans who believe in Democracy would be remiss in saying this President, along with fellow party members as his chorus, and the American media as his echo, constantly referred to fellow Americans who against this war as "cut and runners" and claimed many times that our party had no plans for Iraq, while through this administration's action, it's been abundantly clear that their plan is sacrifices the lives of over 2,800 soldiers, someone else's son or daughter. Throughout this war, there's been countless soundbites of Mr. Bush saying that America would "stay the course", only to deny it with such vehemence that would shock Peter. Only days ago, the President went to a bunch of dumbass rednecks the most sycophantic of his base, lambasting the party that has more of their best interests in mind than his own party. Now we have someone under the pretense of being humbled, talking about working together. What a difference an election makes. Still, we'll have to work with President we've got, not the President we wish we had.
I have to say, it actually feels pretty good to go on some of the blogs and sites I used to visit, for a while, I went and checked out celebrity gossip blogs instead. The comment sections, ...yeesh, seriously, one of the things that needs to be done is concentrate on the education system in this country. I knew I was in a bad spot when the Patron Saint of Baby Daddies, Flavor Flav chicken-noodle-souped his way into my psyche. When I looked at some of the election results, particularly Rick Santorum, I could hear Flav going "Wooooooooooow!"
I know that just visiting sites, blogs, etc. is not doing a whole lot, and I regret being a wuss and not volunteering for the polls. So many people did more then I did...and all I did was vote and participate in peotry peace readings and went to one freakin' rally. The people I listed in my Politricks section really got the job done, got the word out, motivated people, like myself who walked a line between being optimistic and then thinking what was the point because the Right will steal votes again.
Now that Democrats have control of both houses for the 1st time in 14 years, with new and incumbents, I hope people in the grassroots and netroots keep, "doin' the damn thing." As far as I'm concerned, every election year should be treated like it's 2006. No overconfidence, people, looke what it did to the opposing party. As the angriest liberal white man in the universe said on his Wednesday night show, taking back Congress is a baby step.
If only I had the chance to listen to his concession speech...
Look, I know many have said that Bob Casey Jr. isn't much better, I admit that he was a 'nose holder' candidate for me, but, like many PA'er and other American's alike, I am thanking my personal God.
I guess in some cases, prayer can work, and like my friend, Spa Spy once said, you have to be specific. Thus, I prayed from positive change, although I'm sure white evangelicals and fundamentalists may disagree with me.
This has been a nerve wracking day. Not only did I get much sleep, but I had to fight alot of urges not to go to Crooks and liars, Jesus General, or the KYW website to catch updates on the races, because I knew if the media brothel reported something I didn't want to hear, as far as I was concerned, my vote, which many of predecessors survived hoses, police dogs, and a burgeoning Maccawitz to guarantee that I had one, would be going through the motions.
As I write this, MSNBC is playing in the background, and damned if I don't wish Keith Olbermann give Chris Matthews a "SHUT YO' BITCH ASS UP!" and John McCain a "HO SIT DOWN!" Seriously, what the hell is up with Chris and his "OMG, Northeast hates Conservatives!!"?
Anyway, Rendell is back (not a nose holder for me), as is Hillary (meh), and maybe, for a wee bit, I'll exhale.
(I tried to post this a couple of weeks ago, but Blogger was acting retarded, and I got busy and all but forgot about it.)
I had this conversation with a close friend of mine about a few weeks ago. I can't really say her name, but she'll know it's her when she reads this. (She likes to check her so see if I'm writing anything "skanless" about her, just kidding!)
My friend went back to school, amidst amassing debts, student loans, long hours and exhaustion to get paid for doing something she enjoys. While she's putting herself through school, some of her classmates, also non-traditional students, have someone else (mainly a significant other) to foot the bill. Of course, my friend is on the "Bitter? Oh, a tad!" train about this one, can't say that I blame her, especially if she feels like one of those people who can't get a break. A few days later, I thought about another friend of mine who I lost contact with saying the same thing. She was in her late 20's at the time, single, and bemoaned about the fact that some of the classmates who are now married have their husbands are paying for them to go to grad school. And here I was trying to get a job at a college to solve that problem... huh.
As my friend was complaining that she had to do almost all of this herself (and hey, if you got a full-time job, night school and an internship, I'd say you get a free venting pass), they way I see it, if she doing this herself, aside from AES, who does she owe?
I know this might not make her feel better about her situation, but, at the risk of sounding like a cynic, couples break up, break ups can get nasty, and some guys will be spiteful enough to want that money back. One of my sisters probably had that set up when she was married. Now she's separated, and she's damn lucky that she didn't sell her house so she had somewhere to go.
The way I see it, my friend doesn't have to be dependent on anyone, she doesn't have to wait for a husband's credit card, or a boyfriend's paycheck to be deposited. I'm not knocking any woman (and perhaps a few men) who have that setup; work your hustle. But I'm sure there's alot of attached women who do have to use their own resources to pay for school; the economy sucks now. I know it's hard when one is doing it solo, and it seem like every other chick but you has someone carrying them through life, but you must be doing something right...and on your own terms and two feet, unlike many of Paris, Lindsey, and contestant on Flavor of Love sorry-ass examples of women we have in the public eye today.
and I have watched part of Flavor of Love, season 2.
Thank goodness it's only been part of the season. After watching the disastrous season 1 finale, I took a vow that I wouldn't deign to watch Season 2. However, curiosity, like so much crack, got the better of me. I've kept up with by reading several blogs that have recaps and pictures of each episode (Talkin' Videos and Dlisted have the best recaps, but if you like your IQ or anger easily, you may want to forgo the comments). As the literary drug started to course through my veins, I was even more curious and checked out a few minutes of the first episode, and watched the elimination ceremonies of a couple more, only fall off the wagon and watch last week's episode in it's entirety. Even my dealer of the travesty, K-Kit, went cold turkey and went the "blame the victim" route by saying "I didn't say you had to keep watching it!"
Even though I've been sleeping on writing posts for my blog, I wanted to make sure the few times I did write wouldn't be about this show. In between doing temp work and lurking on celebrity blogs, my mind starting to get a little mushy. Seriously, I need to back off C&D and get back to C&L. But I digress.
I came across a post on the Blogger.com's Flavor of Love blog. It's a decent blog, posting link to interviews from the contestants, news, the occasional spoiler, etc. But in terms of comments, caveat lector. One of the bloggers posted excerpts from an article in a college paper. Long story short, this article stuck in her craw. After reading excerpts of the article and the blogger's response, needless to say some of those pebbles got stuck into mine.
In a nutshell, the student journalist questions whether or not the remaining 5 contestants (at the time of publication), particularly Deelishus, Bootz, and Buckeey (this time around I'm not researching the incorrect spelling) are picking on Krazy out of jealousy because she's Latina..., White...both, no one's really figured this out yet. Are they jealous of her looks? Do they have self-hatred because according to writer "not solely or mostly because she is one of Flav's favorite girls...but because she physically has most of what they don't, and vice-versa."
The blogger concludes the even though there are women out there who strive for Western standard of beauty, this isn't the reason for boarding the Krazy hate train. Some of the commenters cry self-hatred on the writer's part, especially since the entry has a picture of her at the top of the post. Personally, I didn't think it was necessary because seeing that this girl is, in her words, a "chocolate sista", the blogger pretty much left her open for people to draw a tunnel vision conclusion.
School Daze much?
Now, I'm not going to get all Black Republican and wave it off, saying that the latest FOL fiasco nothing to do with race, but what both writers don't realize that there's also a class issue involved. All of these "ladies" on this show are HOOD-I-FIED, even New York, Krazy and Deelishis, complete with loud-ass mouths, finger waving, announcement of the tough city or hood they're from, neck rolling, and every other word a profanity; the blocks being set into place for the stereotypical caricatures that make for high-rated viewing to the mainstream audience.
As it's been discussed in many a blog and forum dedicated to FOL, Krazy is a phony whose in it for her career, but unlike the other contestants, she's painfully obvious about it. Helen Keller's corpse could tell she, or the others for that matter, aren't "there for Flav." She's still on the show for her looks, her procurement of high drama that even rivals New York, and if she were taken out of the picture, the finger waves, neck rolls, and high decibels who be squarely aimed at the Drayton-addicted train wreck, also known as Tiffany. All this behind showing is not only because of a middle-aged, crack-ravaged hype man is feeling the only only non-black girl left on the show to retain white viewers, is because all of the above-mentioned traits of the Ghettocracy (tm), acting a fool to solve any and all problems, and not trying to hear any other shit isn't the exception, it's the rule.
I've been in a blogging coma for almost 4 months? Four months of not really having anything to blog about, personal or anything in the news because most of the other blogs that I visited, pretty much shared my sentiments? Even now, even though I've not provided evidence that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth*, I just can't really think of anything, even though there's a lot of shit going on in life to blog about, including the occupational jury duty known as temping, weight loss, chronic writer's block, etc.
I got yet another rejection letter, particularly one for a job I was 80% sure that I was going to get. Man, between this and not winning 3 out of 5 contests I've entered, my guardian angels laying down on the job.
Still, I'll allow myself to have be disappointed (or, since it's the time of the month right now, think OMG my life is over!!!), pick myself up and like one of Sade's tracks of Stronger than Pride, "Keep Looking."
Funny thing is that while I was calling in a favor to St. Joseph about this job, I saw listing on a local arts website for a job that seemed my speed. It would pretty much let me use my skills as an admin assistant and flex my writing muscles. So, I applied via e-mail and got one of those stupid auto responses. A bullshit letter which basically says "thanks, we'll look it over, if we like what we see, we'll let you know."
True, the economy is shit right now, and I know there's a lot of people looking for work and are worse off than I am, so I'm not fully on the "woe is me" train about this. But damn if life wouldn't be easier for me if I didn't have to go through the interviewing process.
One of my biggest problems is that my shyness, however, doing open-mics on an almost steady basis for 3 years helped be get over my fear of speaking in front of people. Open mics and featured readings are one thing; in some ways you're selling yourself, expressing yourself, etc., especially if you have a product to sell, but job interviews, it's a sale alright, but I feel like I'm in some cardboard box with a bunch of other strays and I have to turn on the cute (or this case, marketing) factor in order to be picked. If job interviews were more like open-mics, I wouldn't have a problem. Maybe not, because there's always someone who says "Wait, I've got one more!"
The last three interviews I had was at an organization that I've been trying to get into for the past year. The first required me to interview with four different people, including one by phone. They were all pretty cool except for one; who might as well been wearing an "I'm a Dickhead" T-shirt. The second one, for another department went a little better, but afterwards, I realized the interviewer was trying to trip me up. At this company, an employee has a chance to further his/her education (mostly) on their dime. Naturally one of the questions he asked was, if I were to be hired would I take advantage of that. I talked with K-Kit about this and she told me I should have said "Hell yeah, biotch", worded more professionally, of course. Mentally I was thinking this, but I basically I gave one those "I would consider pursing that option." bullshit answer. While this guy was impressed, needless to say I don't have the job. Seeing as that he was a "my job is my livelihood" type, that wouldn't have worked well with "I'm here for a paycheck." The third, although much better, including the job duties, the pay, and responsibility, sadly was not the charm. I went through two interviews, clicked with all the interviewers including the department head, despite the fact that I was sweating my ass off from nervousness, and even overlooked the fact that I was asked inappropriate questions (i.e., was I married or had kids), although I did point that out and she apologized. Alas, I get a tawdry rejection letter via email.
By the way, one of my sisters said that she said a prayer for me during the time of the interview. Looks like prayer didn't work this time.
Did You Even LOOK at My Resume?
I had convo with K-Kit about this; right now she has to pimp out her resume because she needs an internship for culinary school. One of her leads went bust because they wanted her to work hours that were incompatible with her job. Apparently they missed that on her resume. I know employers are busy, and when I was in college during the 20th century, one of my profs said that the interviewer usually gives it a quick glance before you walk through the door. But come one, "how long did you work there" and "what where your duties there" are on that piece of paper.
I knew from jump that I wouldn't get rich as a poet and freelance writer, unless I taught, which is highly unwise because I can only suppress the urge to say "God, are you fucking stupid?" for so long.
Perhaps I should check out that Craigslist job opening for Hotmovies.com.
