Bad children beware

Children are among my least favorite people. Actually, let me rephrase. BAD children are among my least favorite people. Too often I find myself surrounded by them. Many parents don't seem to think raising well-mannered children is a priority. Instead they let them run around like little heathens. Civilized society should not be forced to deal with their spawns of Satan. Perhaps that's why I was so sympathetic to the Dollar General employee who dispensed some old fashion discipline to a BAD child.

I'm a survivor

The roomie and I had a Scream marathon a few days ago. Between my screams every time Ghostface jumped out and ignored yells saying, “Call 9-1-1,” we discussed our survival plan for a similar situation. You’ve got to have a plan these days for everything. I’m still assembling my zombie apocalypse plan, but the one for a small town serial killer is ready to go and completely fool proof. We won’t be dying because of Ghostface anytime soon. Of course we initially wondered if I would make it to the end because the black person ALWAYS dies in horror movies/thrillers. Or do they? In recent years we’ve actually survived. Based on the movies I’ve seen, here are some of the actors who lived to fight another day:

Time to go: Part 2

Bad attitudes don't help bad situations. The assistant editor was thrown into a bad situation but part of the problem was his personality. He was a deplorable person, which he admitted. He once called a meeting with three of us reporters to say we are the worse staff members ever. Morale had already been low, and he made it worse by insinuating we all were about to be fired (did I mention this was on my birthday). Yet when you asked for specific details of what we did wrong he couldn’t pinpoint them (sounds familiar). Ultimately the assistant editor was the one let go, and a new editor came in. Finally I would have the leadership, consistency and training I craved. Or so I thought. I was wrong. I thought things would change, and they did in some areas, but they stayed the same in too many others.

the silver fox

She found her first gray hair too!

Somebody grab a bottle of Clairol ASAP! The gray is coming! Yes, yours truly found her first gray hair on Saturday. There had been a series of false alarms (mainly because a certain white cat is always in my bed which leads to white fur always in my hair), but this time it is official. My dad went gray in his early 30s and I have several other cousins who got silver locs at a young age. It wasn't much of a surprise that I've found gray already.

Time to go: Part 1

Most people ask if I left the news industry because I didn’t like being a reporter. I loved it. By no means was I a world class journalist. Sure I was a good reporter, but I wasn’t GREAT. Still I loved being a reporter. Yes, there was little pay, late hours and no appreciation, but that didn’t outweigh my love of writing, meeting new people and telling their story and just being out and about. The real reason I left was because I was scared of one day hating it.

what i want to be

I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up anymore. Maybe I never really had it figured out. That thought kind of scares me. Everyone always pointed to me as the person who had a definite career plan. The one thing I’ve always been gung-ho about is being a reporter. I wrote for my middle school and high school newspapers. I interned at newspapers during high school and college. And of course I worked as a reporter for several years post-college. But now I don’t.

word problems

Everything is better with friends.

I have a confession to make: I suck at word games. Yes, it is a sad but true fact. My word game skills are severely lacking, despite being a spelling bee champion, avid reader and former wordsmith. Scrabble is never a board game you will hear me suggest playing. The Upwords game I had as a child was enjoyed by all of my family members, except me. The knowledge of my poor word game skills should make me stay away from all of them, right? Wrong.

It’s feeding time

Public breastfeeding incidents have been in the news several times over the last few months with some sparking quite a bit of controversy. There was the professor who breastfed while teaching her class and received a reprimand. Beyonce fed Blue Ivy while out at lunch one day. Another story showcased military mothers breastfeeding in uniform. And who can forget the Time Magazine cover story featuring a 3-year-old being breastfed? Just the other day I read an article about three mothers who staged a “nurse-in” at their Delaware mall to spread awareness about a woman’s right to nurse in public. They were asked to leave by a state trooper and security guards.

this, that and the other

The other night I was perusing "Stuff Christians Like" by Jon Acuff and had a laugh fest for a good hour. It got me to thinking several question about this, that and the other regarding church and Christian life, such as:

the professional mourner

All these years I’ve been wasting my talents. I’ve officially found my niche in life – a professional mourner. You have the funeral, and I’ll bring the tears. To think I’ve missed out on this particular career path for so long.

Love, marriage and a baby carriage

Is there something in the water? Everyone seems to either be a) getting engaged, b) getting married or c) having a baby. I can't log on Facebook without seeing an announcement about a friend joining one of those categories. It's enough to drive a single girl crazy, and I am not liking that at all.

Can you testify?

It's a new year which means Writing Wednesday is back in full effect. I promise to do so much better than last year which featured numerous bouts of disappearing (blame it on my chronic sickness). One of my goals for this year is to be healthier. That should translate to writing regularly and not owing the Writing Wednesday Pot. Also I plan on writing an additional post at least a few times a month not on Writing Wednesday.

For 2013 I decided to take it back to the Old School for my New Year's Eve celebration. Instead of partying it up I went to Watch Night Service at church. A watch night service is a late-night Christian Church service held on New Year's Eve. Watch night service is especially important to the black community because many slaves were said to have gathered in churches on New Year's Eve,in 1862 to await the Emancipation Proclamation being enacted on Jan. 1, 1863.

The best birthday gift ever

An example of the journal

There's just something about a good gift that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now I do so enjoy giving them, but I also enjoy receiving good gifts. I love it when friends and family pick out something that really shows a thorough understanding of my likes. A few years ago a friend made me a bootleg copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon (we were in high school and broke). The other year my Secret Santa bought me a Clawdeen Wolf Doll. The birthday gift I received last year was my absolute favorite.

I can't be bothered Pt. 2

My generation does not know how to date anymore. Text messages have replaced meaningful conversations. I don't know who thought that was a good idea. It is the absolute worse concept ever, yet none of the young (and old) people of today seem to understand that.

I can't be bothered PT. 1

The older I get the more hellish I become toward the male species. I blame my cynical nature. At the end of the day I just can't be bothered with some of the things they say and do. Case and point this one gentleman I recently started chatting with.

christmas list - childhood version

"I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need..." Um speak for yourself Mariah Carey. I want a lot. Well my inner child wants a lot for Christmas. A few weeks ago I received the Target, Walmart and American Girl toy catalogs, and the 7-year-old inside of me squealed with glee. I immediately went to work at circling all the things I, uh a yonger version of me, would want. I'm happy to see toy catalogues are still filled with toys. Apparently the children still like them. Of course there were a few tablets thrown in the mix as well, but they were definitely kid-friendly. If I was a child today my Christmas list would look something like this:

Still the last to know

It's happening again. Someone in the family is in a serious condition and no one bothers to tell me until DAYS later. I've said it before, I'm always the last to know when it comes to family matters.

NaBloPoMoem

In honor of me completing this year's NaBloPoMo, I have written a poem.

loves of my reading life

Reading is my absolute favorite past time. Often I neglect performing necessary chores - such as washing my hair, cooking or cleaning - because I get lost in a good book. Many of the books I read are part of a series, and over the years I have developed "crushes" on several of the main characters. If only the men of the real world were like the ones in the books I read. I promise I would get my act together to be on their team. My book loves include:

bun head

This week I have been experimenting with wearing a bun every day. Every. Single. Day. Who knew there were so many different bun styles to wear? It's partially out of not wanting to wash my hair every week. I'm trying the every other week approach for the winter.Basically I wear it twisted week one and loose during week two. The buns have helped me stretch not washing my hair.