Things Change

Inconsistant Updating

2009-10-13T23:57:00.003-04:00

I must say when I first decided to start this blog I invisioned myself updating it a lot more, heck, at least once per week. The problem is whenever I want to write something I get paranoid about who is going to read it and what they will think. I'm not talking every day people and friends, I'm talking about individuals that are vetting me (I love that word, vet) for a job or graduate school. So I end up editing my posts to the point where there is nothing left. Anyway, I'm going to try to do better.

I've been sick a lot lately, like about once every couple of weeks. I don't ever recall being sick this much in my life. There are lots of potential explanations, the main two seem to be that I work with children and I live in a city now. However, when I moved to DC last September I didn't get sick this often. Maybe it's the stress of trying to get into law school that is causing this.

I really can't wait to get past the application period, I'm ready to get started and move onto the next stage of my life. As of right now I'm waiting for the LSAT scores to come back in (I'm comfortable with how I think I did) and I'm currently writing personal statements for the Universities I'm considering. I really hope to stay in the DC area, however there are other areas I would love to move to as well such as Boulder, CO and Seattle, WA.

Anyway it's midnight and I need to get up early and do some writing before going into work. Wish me luck!

Morning Moods

2009-04-27T09:53:00.002-04:00

I woke up this morning with some stuff on my mind. Don't you hate those mornings? Or do you even have them? See sometimes when I'm tired even if there is something on my mind I'll be able to go to sleep, but when I wake up it's still there.

I'm still trying to understand some things in my private life. There are some things that you just want to understand immediately, however due to the complexity of humans and emotions involved it can take days ... weeks ... or maybe even years. I have patience though, I will figure things out when the time is right.

More recently I was thinking about things that happened this Saturday outside of my private life. I know people that are so smart and so experienced however I have extremely low expectations for. It's quite tragic because I like the person but they are so unhappy. Due to that unhappiness it leads to unfair behavior towards others. There is another person that has the best intentions and at one point had such passion. Now their apathy has almost completely taken over largely because things are not done in a manner in which that person prefers. The passion is still there deep down however that passion has strings and isn't very adaptable to changing situations.

Anyway ... my mood is that of resentment.

Malcom X Park

2009-03-06T17:09:00.005-05:00

Today made me remember why I was so happy to move to the city. A coworker, her partner and myself went to Malcom X Park and enjoyed the nice weather with a really good lunch. We had a conversation about my relationships, monogomy and the oppression of women in patriarical societies. I really enjoy talking about human sexuality from a sociological persepective, it's so dynamic and it's so much deeper than people like to believe.

Do you ever just know that you are thinking outside of the box? Well some times you really aren't. You may think that you believe in women's reproductive rights, but perhaps you are actually just the different side of the same coin. Maybe we need a completely different coin.

I have a question for you. If the main reason to have sex is for reproduction, then why is the clitoris, the only body part designed purely for pleasure, located outside of the vagina?

___________

This probably should have been at the top, however, we also discussed me going to grad school. I'm 24 and I'm seemingly very restless. I want it all and I want it all now, the hunger for more is insatiable. OK, I'm being a little dramatic, but here is the point. I want to go to American University and do a joint JD/MBA (Law/Businuess Admin) program. It's accelerated and would allow me to graduate with both degrees at the same time in only four years as opposed to 5-6 if I did them seperately. My concern is that I really want to do the joint program, and in order to increase my chances of getting in the law school I was thinking of doing early selection into AU's school of law. However if I get accepted into the law school and not the business school I'll still be obligated to go to attend AU. I don't know if I should not do early selection and compete with everyone else just so that if I don't get accepted to both I can go to another school that did accept to me both, or risk it and try to get into the law school of my first choice early so that I don't have to compete with as many candidates.

AHHHHH decisions! They are so tough. I used to not worry about things like this, back in the day I would have just assumed that I would have gotten into both programs because I'm such a hot shot haha. Oh well, humility does and did come with age in my case. Hopefully I'll figure this out before I get myself into a time crunch.

Alicia Keys is Michelle Obama

2009-03-04T10:30:00.005-05:00

This is a photo from Glamour Magazine:

This photo dipicts Alicia Keys as Michelle Obama. To give a brief rundown on why Glamour published this photo, the publication has been around for 70 years and to celebrate they are printing photos of modern celebrities representing other celebrities from the past seven decades.

This photo jumped out to me because I love both Michelle Obama and Alicia Keys.

However, it made me think ... think about race, complexion and standards of beauty. Not within American society as a whole but the black community.

Here are my initial thoughts in a nut shell (keep in mind my thoughts can and will change as I take more time to think about the photo):

At first I was happy that they would depict a classy beautiful woman, with another classy beautiful woman. As I thought about it more I felt that it would have been even better if they had used a woman of a darker complexion. The beauty of the rise of the Obamas isn't just that they are black, it's that they look black. You cannot deny that Obama is of African decent. Alicia Keys as being biracial blurs that line a lot more and is relatively "safe" as far as apperances.

With that said, when I take the photo shot for what it is I'm delighted that Glamour would want to use Alicia Keys to represent Obama. Her inner and outer beauty and talent isn't anything that I can deny. Glamour wasn't trying to make any commentary about race, it's a commentary on bold edgy fashions over 70 years.

When all is said and done, I have one thing to say: That photo is fierce!

Whant to view the entire spread? Then click.

R.I.P.

2009-01-30T21:33:00.003-05:00

Martin Delaney (the AIDS/HIV advocate, not the abolitionist) -

The founding director of Project Inform has passed.

If you aren't familiar with him here is a link to his Wikipedia page.

Click.

Rawr! Catty!

2008-12-23T16:05:00.005-05:00

Is it just me or are the Christians and Atheist debating each other via Metrobus side advertising?

Christian (photo taken from godonthebus.org)

Atheist (Photo taken from dcexaminer.com)

The bottom ad was paid for by the American Humanist Association and the top ad was paid for by God on the Bus.

I'm just happy that I don't have to move to the back of the bus, y'all.

Very Sad Story

2008-12-23T00:15:00.001-05:00

4 recruiter suicides lead to Army probe

Hi-Lar-rius!

2008-12-22T13:24:00.003-05:00

I have a bad sense of humor LOL.

Yeah! In yo' face sucka!!!!! Haha!

Must view this DVD...

2008-12-19T09:58:00.004-05:00

Now I have to get a membership to a movie rental place that way I can watch this ...

Bigger, Faster, Stronger*

I've been lifting for power a lot lately and my fitness goals have changed ever since I arrived here in DC. However something like performance enhancing drugs is foreign to me, not that I'm unaware of them or out of touch. It's that the though of using them hasn't crossed my mind ever since I stopped competing in sports seriously.

When I look at "the family" however, I can't help but think that a lot of these men with chiseled bodies must be on some sort of illegal supplement. There are guys in San Francisco in their 50s and 60s with shredded abs. I don't care how much you work out, that's incredibly hard to do unless you do not eat anything other than dry salads and grilled chicken or are on steroids.

_____

I digress ... maybe I'm just jealous, or perhaps just realistic. Who knows?

This is awesome

2008-12-11T22:40:00.000-05:00

http://hamptonroads.com/node/491267

Busy Day

2008-12-03T00:05:00.004-05:00

Today was a productive for the most part. It had a down moment but I quickly got over that due to the excitement (good and bad excitement) that I knew was in store later on today.

I coordinate a tutoring program, and my next tutoring session is Wednesday. I'm expecting great than 60 kids and 60 tutors (Saturdays have even more). I had to check lesson plans, organize the manipulatives, arrange substitutes, work on student progress reports and call parents to remind them to bring their kids. It's always interesting, because some of my parents don't speak English so I have to do my best to NOT butcher what little Spanish I do know. I'll be glad when 7 pm this evening hits! Then I can start thinking about Saturday morning tutoring w00t!

BTW if you are interested in being a volunteer tutor, please let me know ... all my kids are great and it's fun.

After work I hopped on the S2 bus to K St. NW. I went to the DC Rape Crisis Center to volunteer with their year end mailer, it's one of their main fundraisers and I was filling out cards and envelopes for people that have a history of donating well over $300. It's really good work that they do, they have a 24 hr hot-line to counsel rape victims current and even people that were victimized in the past that are just now seeking counseling. They also go directly to hospitals to provide counseling on site. If you have some extra dollars laying around please donate.

After I left the Crisis Center, I caught the red line back to Woodley where I picked up my car to go visit a friend that was hit by a car yesterday. He seemed to be in good spirits didn't have any obvious injuries, however he has internal bruising ... OUCH! We hung out and watched Family Guy and then end of this Christmas movie that I now must catch the beginning of.

So today was full and I'm glad, it took my mind off of some other things that I really didn't want to spend a lot of time thinking about!

One thing today that I didn't really care for and I need to mention this while it's fresh on my mind. Why do some media outlets censor direct quotes? This hockey player made a lewd statement about two his former girlfriends to some sports media and Yahoo! edited the offensive phrase out. Why censor? How is anyone supposed to learn when you do that?

The Search Is On Going ...

2008-12-02T12:10:00.000-05:00

I moved to Washington D.C. on September 11 2008. The move was relatively random; back in May I was eating lunch and smoking Hookah with two of my coworkers, and one of them, Ernesto, suggested that we move to D.C. and get government jobs. So I spent the next few months looking for jobs, I would travel to the DC metro area frequently for job interviews and fairs with little success. This attempt to move was by far the most humbling experience of my life. I had to keep telling myself that it will happen and that I just need to be patient.

Patience was tough for me however, I hated my job, was living with my parents and was having a lot of man troubles. I just needed to get out of this mess. In college I saw myself being in a much different place in life that I actually was, and because of it I was miserable. I felt like a total failure and that I'm doomed to mediocrity for a good long while.

Fortune favored me one day because I finally was offered a job ... only one catch, I'd be bringing in 30k before taxes. That's a $10K pay cut and more bills and more living expenses. I took the job, I couldn't stand my current job any longer and I'd rather take a pay cut than to continue to be miserable. I packed up my stuff and I drove up to D.C. with out a place to live. Only thing I had were my clothes, a new job and my car.

I was able to find a place on Craig's List, so I was only homeless for a day and I had a friend that let me sleep on his couch for the one night. So now I live in the Woodley Park/Adams Morgan area and I'm enjoying it. Things are being handed to me on a platter up here yet I'm the happiest I've been since my junior year at ODU.

I'm in DC looking for something ... what it is I'm not really sure. I know that I know it when I see it though.

On another note, tonight I'm volunteering at the DC Rape Crisis Center ... nothing too heavy, just helping them by stuffing and labeling envelopes. I'll update on how that goes sometime before Friday.