Lucky or What?

My mom recently told me that I’m lucky because certain areas of my life just fall into place exactly how I need it to without a great deal of effort on my part. According to my grandmother who was disappointed that I wasn’t baptized when I was an infant, Saint Carmen, whose birthday I share would bring me good fortune. According to my mom she wasn’t talking about money just that despite not being baptized (I was eventually baptized at age 11 when I asked to be) being born on July 16th meant that Saint Carmen would look out for me and things would be ok.

As I sit here typing this post at 2:30 AM, suffering from day 3 of jetlag, I wonder if Saint Carmen picked and chose what path she’d help me with from the beginning or if it’s something she choose randomly. There’s a small area of my life where things don’t just fall into place and it happens to be the one area where I just don’t think I have any control over. People may disagree but life and all these years gone by is telling me differently. My life is good, I have my health and my family is healthy so I wonder if I should just be happy with what I have or pray that Saint Carmen will decide to add an additional area.

11 Incidents

That’s how many car accidents (including cars that skidded and ended up facing the wrong way)I counted in a 30 mile radius on the Dulles Toll Road (for those in the urea). A friend and I headed to the Leesburg outlets so I could exchange a pair of shoes I’d bought before the Christmas holidays and didn’t see a drop of snow or even rain in D.C. When we reached the toll road we saw some flurries but nothing major. In Leesburg, an hour from DC the snow was coming down so we decided exchange the shoes and run into one other store before heading home. We were at the outlet stores for maybe 45 minutes and then headed up only to find the highway had accumulated at least an inch of snow. My silver bullet is great and reliable but isn’t a snowmobile so I kept my speed to about 40 mph.

Unfortunately there were a bunch of other Bozos who figured they should keep at the regular posted speed limit and ended up on the side of the road, in a ditch or with a jacked up car. I was anxious to get home, it was after all a snowy Sunday afternoon which means sitting in my pjs watching TV and drinking hot cocoa but despite my interest in getting home quickly I had no interest in dying so I keep it slow.

This is our first snow fall of the winter season and people in the DC metro area are notorious for loosing their minds when it snows. What I don’t understand is why won’t folks just SLOW DOWN! Ain’t nothing at the end of the journey to risk my life or someone else’s for. The folks with the SUVs are also notorious for speeding during inclement weather in these parts; I haven’t read anywhere where SUV manufacturers say they’re safe to drive fast in snow and icy conditions.

Let’s talk about the supermarkets; I walked into a Safeway near my house for Empanada fixings and quickly walked out. The lines were at least 30 minutes long. No way, when I didn’t need to have Empanadas tonight. Armageddon is not here, so I can’t understand why EVERYONE had to be at the grocery store today even though it was snowing. I figure the majority of the patrons lived in the area so that means there are also at least 2 mini market/bodegas/7-11 type stores within a two or three block radius of everyplace in DC proper so there’s no threat of starving to death if folks run out of milk or bread.

I’m hoping for more snow so I can work from home and if that happens I’ll just walk to the local mini market or grocery store if I run out of food.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

I suddenly have the urge to blog lol!

You ever catch someone from work lying in an email? I asked a colleague to send an email asking for additional information about a move taking place that may affect the budget on my project. The recipient of the email responded that there wasn’t a move and “things weren’t as they seem”. WTF, does that mean? I have no idea. I do know that on Sunday an email was sent by the recipient (I was cc’d on it) stating there would be an upcoming move. Turns out I deleted the email but thanks to the good folks of Google Desktop I was able to pull up a cached copy of the email and forward it on.

My immediate reaction was disbelief; I knew I wasn’t going crazy and remember seeing an email on Sunday about a move. Then I got pissed because for a quick second I thought this lie made me look like an idiot and there’s nothing that I hate more then having egg on my face at work. Then I laughed and remembered who I was dealing with; this guy has a shady rep. Once again thanks to Google desktop I was able to prove that I wasn’t the idiot and am anxiously waiting to read what excuse he’ll come up with to get himself out of this one.

Breaking Down and a whole bunch of other stuff

Blogging doesn’t seem to have the same appeal to me that it did when I first started 2 ½ years ago. I love reading other blogs but I’m having trouble keeping mine updated and often times feel like it’s a chore instead of an outlet. I don’t want to give it up yet so I'm taking the pressure off and updating when I have something to say.

I’m 32 years old and my body is breaking down. My cholesterol level is high, I need to work out more and I have an eye drainage problem. Yes, ladies and gents my right eye doesn’t drain properly so every 15 to 30 minutes or so a tear just rolls out of my right eye and down my cheek. I have bruises around my right eye lid from the constant rubbing and for a few days I was convinced I’d developed some type of skin cancer. I went to an ophthalmologist who recommended an eye lid specialist and since specialists appear to be in demand, my appointment isn’t for a few weeks.

Commercial Break:

I’m watching that I Love New York show and WOW, WOW, WOW! How in the world?!?! Where do they find these people? Lawd there’s a dude on there quoting scripture!!!!!! He’s on a crazy VH1 show to win the hand of New York and says he puts god first and starts quoting scripture. That made me laugh.

Back to the program:

If I receive my undergrad transcripts by the 22nd I will be taking my first online grad school class in about a week or so. I’m excited, frightened and very nervous. The class is in project management and will definitely be an asset. It’s not the grad school program I wanted but I don’t have the time to attend a brick and mortar program at this time and figured this course would help me with work now.

Finally A Post!

I’ve been going up and down the blogsphere sucking my teeth at people who haven’t posted in a while, when I realized I haven’t posted anything since 2006. I’m feeling a bit stressed after being on vacation for 2 weeks. I haven’t taken this much time off in (hmmm since college) and it felt great. Now I’m sick and have a ton of work I don’t feel like doing but hope that this weekend will help me get over this achy, sick, head cold feeling and I’ll feel more like myself.

I spent Christmas and New Years with my mom, aunt, cousin and his family in Brussels. I had a great time listening to some of the same old stories I’d heard over and over through out the years and heard some new and interesting ones that made me think about fate, our paths in life and how one event could change the course of your life. I’d heard that my aunt didn’t like my dad and didn’t attend my mom’s wedding but I never knew why until last week. I’d asked my mom if she was hurt, angry or sad and she seemed to brush it off her shoulders.

My mom and dad meeting in Brussels in the 1960’s seems to have took my mom and her family down a different path that wasn’t anticipated when she and her sister left Haiti in 1964 to study in Belgium. The plan was that they’d get their degrees my aunt in Nursing and my mom in Chemical Engineering and they’d return to Haiti get jobs and settle down with someone from a “good” family. In the meantime my aunt finished her nursing degree applied and was accepted at an Anesthesiologist nursing program in Canada and was all set to go when my mom met my dad. Apparently my grandmother didn’t want her to leave my mom all alone in Belgium with this man (my dad) since my mom was still in school. So my aunt didn’t go to Canada stayed in Belgium and met her ex husband who was Belgian. After 40 years she’s still living there and recently retired. Two years after they married my mom moved to the US with my dad since his entire family immediate family lived in Jersey at the time. She never finished that degree in Chemical Engineering and when I asked her why she said something about being married was overwhelming and when I gave her that are you kidding me look and said “you’d never let me get away with that” she agreed and said hell no I wouldn’t have. She did eventually get an undergrad degree in business.

This sequence of events makes me really think about fate and our paths in life. Sure if my mom didn’t marry my dad I wouldn’t be me or even alive but what if they’d gotten married and she finished the degree she initially started, would they have moved? What if my aunt ignored my grandmother and went to Canada would I have practically lived up in Montreal where she was supposed to live? Would I be the same person? I am, who I am largely as a result of my experiences and believe that slight changes could have played a role in how I view the world I live in.

Heartbroken

I read stories like these and I’m heartbroken by the endless chaos and lawlessness. Year after year rule of law, prosperity and hope for a better future go out the window. What happened to the first independent black republic in the world? 200 years of independence and what? I’m heartbroken because I miss it, the summers with my grandmother, the visits with my relatives, discovering my family history with every trip. The carefree summers spent rocking on my grandmother’s front porch drinking “limonade” and all the Avocados and fried plantains I can eat. Weekends at the beach and week nights visiting all the cousins.

It’s been 5 years since my last trip to attend my grandmother’s funeral. Her death, the destruction of the country at the hands of bandits disguised as politicians have made me reluctant to return. The chaos and lawlessness have run 90% of my family out to new lives in the US and Canada. There’s nothing left but the memories and I miss it so much. Will I be able to visit with my children one day? Not just show them pictures or tell them stories but show them where I spent the majority of my summers as a child.

Abidjan!

My old officemate and I used to randomly shout out Abidjan! (Capital of Ivory Coast) because of the song below. It used to crack us up that these French and Ivorian artists were representing their city like folks represent Brooklyn. What I love about this video are the two immigrant groups from different backgrounds coming together due to their love of music and their immigrant status and lives in ("Les Banlieue", Where a lot of the projects are) France.

It was our similar tastes in music that had us closing our office door if we were working late and just jamming to everything from Salsa to French hip hop and R'nb. I tuned her into this new Rai'nb mix coming out of France which took traditional Algerian Rai music and combined hip hop and R'nb rythms. To say American music has a big influence all over the world is an understatment. I was surfing on you tube and decided to play this video because it reminds me of my friend and old officemate whom I miss terribly. She moved to Morocco to be closer to her family and I can't wait until I figure out a way to visit her without breaking the bank.

Friendship

How many of us have them. I’ve been thinking about friends and friendships a lot lately and no wonder since it’s all over the internet and on everyone’s blogs. Falling out also seems to be a regular occurrence both in real life and in the blog world.

I don’t think I’ve been mad enough at a true friend to have a falling out with them but I have had a true friend stop speaking to me several times because of something she felt I did to her. She stops speaking to me at least once every two years and when she lived in DC it was at least once every six months I often wonder why she even bothers to continue the friendship. She’s also next level with the drama so I sometimes try to stay clear since I try to lead a drama free life. I’ve had friendships that over time have dwindled only to be re ignited once both or one of us decides to reach out to the other on a regular basis.

Sometimes distance is especially hard and if both people don’t put in the effort to keep in touch and update then it will just slide. I have a friend who lives in Las Vegas who isn’t an oldest and dearest friend from grade school but is one I made about 5 years ago. We hung out and spoke often when she lived in DC but now that she moved our friendship has continued but on an every other month catch up session. I actually have a few friends from H.S and college who I don’t speak to every day or even every week but still consider good friends and know if I needed something they’d do what they could for me. Sometimes we loose touch with people because we’ve outgrown each other or no longer have enough in common to sustain a true friendship. I was talking to a friend on IM tonight and she asked about a mutual friend that she no longer talks to. She said something to me that made me pause and think for a moment, “sometimes I think friends go through so much together there is nowhere to go but apart. Sometime you find your way back sometimes you don’t.” That and other aspects of our conversation reminded me that sometimes the level of friendship you have with someone in your mind and with your actions isn’t the one they have with you.

I’ve been thinking about my best friend from HS lately. I haven’t spoken to her in almost 9 years and lately I’ve wondered what she’s up to. If she’s married, has a child, if her family still lives in the same place. I can’t think of what really drew us apart except to say we grew apart; maybe a different out look on life and different directions. I’ve been thinking about calling her for the last six months but haven’t made an effort to. I think I still know her number by heart; I called it almost every day for the four years that we were in HS together.

Edit: I just called my friend from HS and she was so excited to hear from me. Just like I have, she's been thinking about me on and off for the last 9 years. She still lives in the same apartment and has the same phone number that I remember from HS (NYC's never move I swear!) lol! We're meeting for lunch next week when I go up for the holidays.

Thank You Jesus

God looks out for babies and fools right? Well god was looking out for this fool, Moi. Thursday evening I head home and of course traffic in Tyson’s is out of control so instead of the usual 40 minutes it took an hour and when traffic cleared up I was flying. Flying through a yellow/red light right in front of a capital police officer and since they’ve been given new powers to police DC along the Capital Hill area I was pulled over. The officer gave me a lecture about running yellow lights and gave me a warning. No points, no $75 dollar ticket.

Friday afternoon I left work early, braced the crazy winds and made a right turn slightly ahead of a guy who was gunning to make a left turn into the lane next to me. Right in front of me he lost control of his car and hit an oncoming car head on. I was a little bit freaked out but glad he was able to get out the car and it looked like the person he hit was also ok. Their cars however, not so great.

Saturday, a friend and I were driving along GW Parkway on our way to the Leesburg outlets and as I’m telling her about my Friday night metro adventure a deer runs out of the woods right in front of my car. I managed to break, not swerve into another lane and only appeared to have clipped the deer because he was able to run off. To say I was freaked out would have been an understatement.

Soooo Excited

Today I bought a garlic press. Yes, I know finally! j/k I’ve been eyeing this garlic press thing for a while now ever since I saw Dave use one on Food Network. This cooking thing has become my newest hobby and I forgot how expensive hobbies can become. That garlic press was $15 bucks! Then they’re the cookbooks, the spices that aren’t already in my cupboard and extra ingredients that I don’t buy on a regular basis just to try new recipes but it’s all worth it IF the dish turns out ok. My mom always asks me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas and I usually ask for a gift card from Banana, but this year I received pottery barn dishes for my birthday and for Christmas I’ve asked for a cooking class. I can’t wait until this Spring when they’re back in session.

Not only am now into reading and buying all sorts of cookbooks but I’m also glued to cooking reality shows. Top Chef is my show, so much so that it now comes before Law and Order on my TV viewing line up and that says a lot since 99% of what I watch on TV is L&O. Last Wednesday when I went to my dad’s for Thanksgiving I expected to get my Top Chef view age on but low and behold the good people at Time Warner decided that Chapel Hill wasn’t worthy of having Bravo on their TV line up but instead they got the Inspirational channel. Hmmm channel geared toward Gay men or an Inspirational Channel. Since I have a bunch of prayers out there for some friends going through a tough time, I’m going to refrain from saying out loud or writing on here what I think about that. I was a little pissed that the next town over which was literally two blocks from my dad’s place had Bravo on their line up. Either way, thanks to the miracle of Tivo I was able to catch up.

Monnie posted a few of her favorite Thanksgiving recipes and her “Southern Comfort Cake” caught my eye. Here’s a picture of my version. It was GOOD, slap your mama good!

La Reina

Celia Cruz is/was the Queen of Salsa and after listening to most of her last CD on the road this weekend I've come to the conclusion that if I could go back in time I'd be her back up singer. I can't sing, nor do I speak Spanish other then the usual 5 phrases you should know if you're in a Spanish speaking country but I'd have figured it out. Celia Cruz was amazing and had an amazing career, I'm just sad that I didn't discover her music until after she passed away.



So if anyone reading this saw a crazy looking chick in a silver civic on 95, it was the drums. They made me do it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is enjoying a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Anonymous Request

A certain Anonymous Fly by night commentor said: "One liner: Show me the cats!". Well here you go. A day in the life of Pierre and Olivier.



Here Olivier is doing what he does best, beg for wet food. This meowling happens daily once at 7:00 AM and again in the evenings when I get home.


When he's not chasing his brother around the house at 2 in the morning Pierre passes his time getting ready for his evening job.


Apparently the light coming into the living room was too much for Olivier and he couldn't find his nap time eye mask.

Clearly all that fur doesn't help keep them warm so they have to snuggle up during the winter.

I HATE DELTA

My mom and I are heading to Europe for Christmas and we booked direct round trip flights from JFK to Brussels. I'm a loyal United customer because I have so many miles with them but they wanted an arm and a kidney for a flight from DC to Brussels so I thought hey it would be fun to go up to NYC for a few days hang out and then fly with my mom since the ticket from NYC only cost one arm. Best laid plans and all that jazz....

I just received an email from Delta saying they are sorry for the inconvenience but on New Years Day when we leave we're now flying directly to ATL then on to JFK. They suddenly canceled the direct flight from Brussels to JFK for that day. WTF?!?!? How much sense does that make for me to fly over NY only to go back to NY a few hours later then I eventually have to get back to DC a few days later, so I'm flying over two place I need to be. Oh and the customer service chick I spoke to who said there's nothing they could do and couldn't compensate me in anyway. Fuck you, die bitch.

How's that for being honest.

Not so Honest

I just finished reading Diva (in Demand)’s post where she has one liners about how she really feels about people in her life and started thinking about my own honest assessments of people around me. Despite the moniker, I’m not as Honest as I’d like to think. I hold my tongue a lot because I’m generally non confrontational and nice with people I know. I’ve had a former manager at work describe me as someone who is straightforward, honest, and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. I agree with her assessment to a certain extent but I’m not always straightforward or honest. There are a lot of things I hold back on because I don’t want to be confrontational or hurt someone’s feelings. It’s also because I can be judgmental (90% of which I keep to myself) because as I get older, I realize we don’t all have the same thought process nor do we need to.

A friend of mine just asked me for a personal favor that would have included lending her money until pay day. Except with my family, I have a policy of only lending what I can afford to give away. I felt very awkward telling her I don’t feel comfortable doing that and although I know she’s disappointed she says she understands my decision. I’m not sure why I felt uncomfortable saying no, which is another problem I have. My friend expressed that she would never put me in a bad financial situation and I believe her but in the back of my mind I thought, she succeed in putting herself in a bad situation financially so why can’t she clear up whatever issue it is that’s keeping her from buying something outright or with her own credit card unless its an emergency (this situation wasn’t an emergency). This is where I should have stepped in and told her what I just wrote but I stopped because I didn’t want to sound too judgmental (which I can be when it comes to finances) and if she made the decision to ask me for this favor then she’s probably justified the expense in her mind and nothing I would say would make her budge.

Everywhere around me I have friends and associates who don’t have the same ideas regarding sacrificing to reach an end goal that I do. In fact my mother would say I don’t have the same idea that she does and I consider her the ultimate sacrificer (is that even a word?). During our retreat we had a friend’s husband come in and do a basic financial planning exercise. If we called bad financial planning and decisions a disease I could honestly say a majority of the group is dying from bad decisions. Will anyone make the changes they said they would to get on the right path to their goal? Maybe. I’d like to think I have sound, fool proof financial habits but in reality I don’t. I sat down with a financial planner earlier this year after forking over big bucks and have a clear goal I need to strive for but find myself constantly tripping over my own feet. I’m trying an experiment as of December 1 (not including xmas presents which will have its separate budget) and I’ll see how successful I am.

Dear Blog,

I apologize for neglecting you over the last week and a half. I’ve been crazy busy with the Armenians who were in town but that’s not an excuse because I’ve been busy before and had no problem blogging. I’m not sure if I’m going through writers block or if I’m suffering from topic withdrawal. Life is good but I just haven't had anything really exciting to blog about lately.

This weekend I made my first Indian meal and it wasn’t too bad. As my own critic I thought the Ginger Chicken Kebabs I made were tasty but the Dal (Lentils/split peas) were ok. There was something missing and I can’t put my finger on it yet. I figure I’ll have to make it again this week and step it up regarding flavor. I made enough for dinner on Saturday and for my book club meeting tonight where only the Hostess and another of our friends showed up. Everyone who said they’d attend suddenly had other pressing issues to deal with. I’ll have to rethink my food choices next time I host it since I have so much food left over that I’m going to have to work hard to eat so it won’t go to waste. Maybe I’ll make those stuffed mushrooms I’d planned on making for lunch this week.

Saturday was such a gloriously fabulous day and I was able to spend a few hours outside, volunteering for the Washington Humane Society’s remote adoption unit. Basically we sat outside of a pet store in DC and let the dog’s cuteness attract potential adopters. I took the dog I was in charge of for a walk and managed to get a few people who were eating outside at the local restaurants to come check our booth out.


Thank god the elections are over, I’m so sick and tired of those attacking political ads that only lessen my faith in our country’s political system. No one talks about the issues anymore just about something the other candidate said out of context 20 years ago. I can’t imagine that the people of the DC/MD/VA metropolitan area approve of these tactics and we all need to stand together to get them to STOP! Luckily for me I live in DC and not MD otherwise I would have been bombarded by phone calls as well.

Remember a few months ago when I blogged about cheating on my hairdresser with a new person and a new salon? Well it’s been a blessing and a curse. The new place is great, I make an appointment and I’m usually seated in the stylist’s chair within 10 to 15 minutes of my appointment time. Now the curse is that I’m not used to going to a person who actually honors appointments so I’m not used to making appointments way in advance when I know the hairdressers I usually go to will take in most folks first come, first serve. So when I called yesterday to make an appointment with the stylist I’ve been going to at the new shop I learned that she’s booked until the 24th. At this place there’s no such thing as squeezing someone in unless there’s a cancellation. I guess I’ll have to schedule my appointments well in advance from now on.

America, America!

Have you ever driven or walked down a street in your town and looked at it through the eyes of a visitor? I’m doing that this week and DC looks a lot different to me; crisper, cleaner even. One of my colleagues from Arme.nia is here with a delegation of officials and since this is her first trip to the U.S. I asked her what she thought and her initial response was that it was surreal almost like a movie.

As I drive around DC I look around and see my adopted city through the eyes of my colleague and realize how great it is here. As I compare it to her home town it just reinforces what I sometimes forget when being bombarded by trivial political ads that don’t address the issues, when I realize that our politicians are spending our hard earned tax dollars on a lost cause. I realize that despite our issues we live in a great country.

Boo Boo the Fool

It’s amazing what some folks will do so they can take advantage of others. A friend of mine recently took a group trip to Jamaica and spent the majority of her time at the all inclusive resort. One night the group had tickets to a party off the resort and she met a Jamaican guy who happened to live in NYC. They chatted, danced and hit it off so they exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch once they returned to the US.

Upon returning to the US, my friend discovers that her uncle recently passed away and headed to his funeral. While she was away she received a call from the gentlemen she met in Jamaica. He’d wanted to see how she was and also let her know that he’d been mugged and lost his wallet, ID, credit cards and money. They conversed a bit more before he asked if she could send him some money and that he’d pay her back the moment he returned to NY. She told him she wasn’t able to and asked why he couldn’t ask his relatives since he was staying with them. He had an answer for that. A week or so later he calls her again this time he’s in NY and asked while they chatted if she could send him some money since he was having trouble getting to the bank since it was far and he didn't have any money to take a cab. When she asked why he couldn’t ask his friends there he stated that he doesn’t want to ask anyone for anything. Her response: “but you’re asking me”.

This is a man she met for about 30 minutes in a club and he felt comfortable enough to make her a target for his scheme. I don’t know this guy but all this is a straight up scheme and I’m assuming it’s worked for him before because I honestly can’t imagine a stranger having the nerve to ask my friend for money. You don’t know her, but there’s nothing about her that reads “boo boo the fool”

La Patte

Sain Supa Crew love 'em.

Jury Duty

I was summoned for Jury Duty sometime in August and postponed it for last Thursday. I figured the scenario would be the same as the last time I was “summoned”. I’d go down and they’d dismiss me in time for Oprah. I guess my juror number came up because I was the first person called and I was picked for to be the juror on a criminal case. Maybe I should play my juror number, who knows I might win a few dollars or a few million. Either way I learned a few things on Jury Duty, one of them is that the D.C. Courts need to revamp its system. The second is that even though I haven’t ridden a DC bus in years, toothless people and folks with jaundice still ride the bus. Clearly they haven’t given their liver a rest in ages. The courthouse is full of unsavory looking characters who smoke New Ports, and talk about their probation issues and getting clean before the urine test.

First it’s enough that you have to get there all “early 8AM” and shyt but there are NO snacks and they don’t give you bottled water. They have a few dial up lines in the business lounge but no wireless internet anywhere in the court house. I was a bit flabbergasted, are we not at the end of 2006? This seemed unacceptable, and I’m sending Fenty an email. I’ve heard that jurors in other cities are at least given a few basic necessities.

I knew the actual trial wasn’t going to be anything like it is on Law & Order or other TV shows but I was really disappointed by how slow the attorneys were. I felt like objecting a few times when the defense attorney kept repeating the same question, 10 different ways. More then 3 minutes of silence while you read your notes seems a bit much. I think both attorneys spent more time doing bench conferences with the judge then they did actually questioning witnesses or giving their opening statements. I can’t imagine having the task of prosecuting someone for a crime or defending them and my performance or lack there of, having a major outcome in their lives.

I did have a great time trying to figure out during the bench conferences what celebrities folks looked like and have decided that the prosecutor has a Pinocchio Nose, the first Detective to testify looked like a female Jaime Foxx and the Marshall assigned to the courtroom had a Steve Harvey hair cut.

Although I wasn’t happy getting picked, I did experience something new and did my civic duty.