Don't Get "Charlie Sheened"

Charlie Sheen has definitely been making a lot of a ruckus lately. I think a lesson we can all take from this is “Don’t Get Charlie Sheened.” In plain terms, that translates to “Don’t get taken advantage of by an employer because you don’t know or assert your worth.”

One of the main things Charlie Sheen has been saying in his interviews (whether this be true or not is up for debate) is that he is the “Rockstar” of the show, and as such, has been mistreated and deserves more money.

Would you consider yourself the “Rockstar” at your job? Do you feel like you aren’t being paid or appreciated at your true value? Don’t Get Charlie Sheened. Be sure you are getting what you are worth, if not in money, at least in appreciation and acknowledgement. If you aren’t careful, you could end up like Charlie Sheen, looking crazy for purporting your worth after a long time of not asserting it to your employer.

Everyone can’t always see how hard you work and all that you do, make sure every once in a while you let them know. Don’t get “Charlie Sheened.”

*This is not to be confused with having an inflated head without basis, which could possibly be Charlie Sheen’s problem.*

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On Behalf of Planned Parenthood

Some of you probably seen me going off a little bit on my twitter so I figured I’d stop the 140 character bursts and write a blog post about my feelings about Planned Parenthood.

Today the House approved an amendment to a massive spending bill that would prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The basis of this is that they feel that Planned Parenthood is an “abortion provider.”

I need to explain something to people who might not understand. Planned Parenthood provides BASIC gynecological care to low income and no income women. When I did not have insurance I went to Planned Parenthood for my yearly check-ups and exams. PLANNED PARENTHOOD DOES SO MUCH MORE THAN WRITE PRESCRIPTIONS FOR ABORTION.

They help with family planning, and provide women who don’t have insurance with a place to keep themselves reproductively healthy. They also serve pregnant women.

I can understand a person who is against abortion not wanting their tax dollars to go to abortions. In that case, don’t allow funding to go towards the division of the organisation that provides abortions, but for the love of Pete understand that they do SO MUCH MORE for so many women. Vilifying an entire organization without understanding how much good they do for the people that the U.S. system has left behind is ignorant.

Note: This is NOT a “pro-abortion” post, this is a “Pro-Planned Parenthood” post.

Life is like a box of chocolates

You know the old saying, well maybe not old, but the Forrest Gump saying, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

This is true, but on a deeper level than is often thought about. I discovered this on Monday when I opened the lovely box of chocolates from my hubby for Valentine's Day.

When I get a box off chocolates, I know exactly what my favorites look like (it's the one where there are two in one hole and they have a toffee filling). I also know that two of the chocolates in that box I will not like, coconut and cherry filled. While I may not know which chocolates house the horribleness of coconut or cherry, I have an idea of the shape of them, so I proceed with caution, biting into them rather than popping them in my mouth whole.

Life IS like a box of chocolates. We know what we like, proceed with caution into the things we don't like. If we're playing life right we make good decisions as to when to go full force into something, devouring it whole, and when to take small bites out of caution.

YouTube Tuesday: Let Me Smang It

This week's YouTube Tuesday video is HILARIOUS! I'll let you watch it first before I give my commentary.



I've heard that this is a parody group (Turquoise Jeep, a la The Lonely Island, and I sure hope so, because this can NOT be a serious music video. The crazy thing is, they are right on point in making fun of every R&B/Hip Hop "Let me have sex with you girl" type of video.

Things I find most hilarious:

1. The lyrics in general
2. The "Smang It" Dance
3. Every other dance that the lead singer does
4. How SERIOUS the faces are of the lead singer and the woman in the Black dress while they are doing the "Smang It" Dance.
5. The rapper guy's dancing and lyrics...and fake mustache lol

Natural Hair in the Workplace

When the question comes up on forums/blogs about changing or straightening hair for a job my usual response is: I would never straighten my hair for a job because I don't want to work any place that doesn't appreciate natural hair. This is 100% how I feel, but I also have to keep in mind that I do have the luxury of feeling this way. I work in the performing arts field, so dress codes and appearance standards are not as strict as if I was working in a skyscraper somewhere.

I am however a FIRM believer that natural hair, just like any other hair type, can be styled "professionally." There are special considerations to think about when it comes to Black women being obligated to alter their natural hair for employment.

After the initial transition from relaxed to natural many women feel "less-than" and a major part of that is how they are perceived by others. Having to straighten their hair for an interview only adds to that feeling.

Straight hair is a look that says, 'I fit in internationally, I look like the power base.' Interviewers put interviewees looks/hair/clothes through their OWN personal filter and background, which sadly, at this stage of the progression of society, means many of them see natural hair in a biased light as unprofessional, regardless of style.

The sad truth is, for some women it is a requirement of the industry or place they want to work to have straight hair, especially if their natural hair is too short to place in a bun or pony tail. What is to be done in that predicament? Wear wig at work? Suffer heat damage by heat straightening the hair constantly? Use dangerous chemicals to straighten your hair? None of those seem ideal to me.

I hope for a day when natural Black hair styles will be considered just as "neat" and "professional" as all others.

What do you think about natural hair in the workplace?

The Valentine's Day Experiences

Initially when I was thinking about Valentine's Day, I didn't really think I thought too much it, of the holiday, but as I started to think about past Valentine's Days I've had, I realized that me and cupid of sort of a sordid past.

These are in no particular order. The likelyhood of some of these past Valentine's reading this is kind of high, I wonder if they will be able to point themselves out lol:

-There were plenty of Valentine's Days where I didn't have a Valentine, and as I'm sure you know, those sucked in highschool. Everyone walked around with their flowers, and balloons and it made me sick lol.

-Most of the time my whole crew was solo on Valentine's Day. One Valentine's Day we decided we would watch a movie at my friend Brittany's house to celebrate. We watched some M. Knight Shyamalan movie, I can't remember which one, I *think* it was Signs. I recall us jumping at the ONE scary moment in the whole movie.

-There was the Valentine's Day where my Valentine gave me a dusty teddy bear, that came with chocolates, and the chocolates were spoiled. He had obviously pulled it off some shelf in his house from God knows how many Valentine's Days before that one.

-There was the Valentine's Day where my boyfriend at the time did not call me the whole day, and didn't answer my calls. When I talked to him the next day, he said he didn't have any money. I explained to him that even if he didn't have any money (which was fine, we were in highschool, who was ballin' back then? lol) he could have CALLED ME, HIS GIRLFRIEND to say Happy Valentine's Day.

-There was the Valentine's Day where I shared a Valentine with another girl who was obviously "battling" me over this particular boy we both liked. I'm not sure, but I think as we've gotten older he's come out as homosexual...which is totally fine, just makes that Valentine year even funnier.

They weren't ALL bad lol...

-There was a long distance Valentine's Day my first year of college where my Valentine mailed me the cutest little puppy dog stuffed animal, and I sent him a Valentine's Day collage of myself.

-There was the Valentine's day where I took my boyfriend who's now my husband to see Chris Rock live, which was an awesome time.

Somehow since being married Valentine's Day isn't as big of a deal to me. Our plans for this year are to stay home. He'll cook dinner (seafood alfredo and garlic bread FTW!) and I'll make desert (apple pie with crumb topping also FTW), we'll drink champagne, and chill playing video games and watching movies :-D

From the Interwebz: Year of the Mombies

Take from this what you will.






































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YouTube Tuesday: Willow Smith: Too much diva, too early?

This week's YouTube Tuesday video features the "Whip My Hair" princess herself, Willow Smith. My initial reactions to the video were:

1. How is she in teen vogue and she is only 11 years old?
2. She is so darn cute!
3. Did she just use the phrase "When I was little...?" She IS little, she's 11 years old!
4. She has a LOT of diva going on.
5. She said three things she can't live without are 1. her phone, 2. her shoes, 3. 20 outfits :-\
6. She is so CUTE!

I don't think she acts "grown" but she seems to have just a tad bit more diva than I personally would like for an 11 year old. She has the diva level of like a 15 year old! lol. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as Will and Jada are keeping her grounded.

I've seen a lot of people say they feel like Will and Jada are "pimping" their kids out, and that they are growing up too fast. She doesn't seem to have a "grown" attitude, but her answer to the three things she can't live without were 100% materialistic - which could have to do with her lifestyle, or could just have to do with her being a kid. Who knows.

At the end of the day, if I had an 11 year old daughter, I wouldn't mind her listening/watching Willow Smith, as opposed to a lot of other artists out there.




What do YOU think? Is Willow Smith too diva, too fast?

Motivation by way of Insult

I watched the video below and initially had no words to express how it made me feel. It is an Ethiopian woman talking down about, generalizing, and stereotyping African American women. Among other things she noted that African American women:

1. Come from broken homes
2. Are loud
3. Are the most desperate women in the world
4. Do not speak "proper" English
5. Live in African American neighborhoods that are chaotic
6. Cannot date outside of their race because no one wants them

She classed herself as being higher than African American women as a first generation African woman, and placed Jamaicans, Haitians and Dominicans in the class with her. One of the things it seems she feels proves her as an African woman is better than an African American woman is the fact that she was able to obtain and Asian husband.

Over all, what this video did was MOTIVATE me. Oddly enough, it made me want to do better than I usually do, work harder than I usually do to prove to her, and everyone else who thinks like her, that African American women, like any other type of person, have good and bad representations, and I am one of the GOOD.

Be proud of your achievements - on your own timetable

In World of Warcraft (don't worry, this won't be a video game post lol) there are guilds - your group of friends in the game, and achievements - certain goals the game has set for you to achieve. When you get an achievement it broadcasts to all your guild members.

I recently got an achievement that most players get at a lower level. When my achievement was broadcasted through guild chat I was slightly embarrassed at first, feeling like I should have completed it much earlier. In retrospect I should have been happy with my achievement, regardless of if it was accomplished on the "normal" timetable or not.

This happens in life. We let the fact that we achieve later than "normal" overshadow the fact that we have actually achieved. A "non-traditional" student may complete their Associates degree without even a pat on the back to themselves because they feel they should have had it already.

Embrace the timetable that your life path has set. Relish in reaching life's milestones on your time, forget everyone else's timetables. Everyone's lives take different paths, and the roads may be shorter for some and longer for others to reach the destinations (degrees, marriage, children, employment success, fame, etc.)

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Idris Elba > Tyler Perry

My heart stopped today to hear that Tyler Perry has been chosen over Idris Elba to portray Alex Cross in the film depiction of James Patterson's novel, I Alex Cross.

I LOVE the Alex Cross novels, and after seeing Idris Elba's portrayal of a detective in the U.K. series Luther I dreamed of the day where I could see him play Alex Cross. I loved Morgan Freeman's portrayal in the past Alex Cross movies but I was sure Elba would nail the character. On the same day that I hear Idris Elba was even considered for the role I hear it was given instead to Tyler Perry! *heart breaks*

I've had some words for Tyler Perry in the past, when it comes to his directing, but I don't really have a bad opinion of his acting, I just have a much greater regard for Idris Elba's acting.

Alex Cross is suave, handsome, charming - but serious about his case work. These things I feel Idris Elba can fit right into. Not that I think Perry will suck, Idris Elba just fits better! I mean, does this not look like Alex Cross to you? (for those familiar with the novels)




















This is how the conversation transpired between my husband and I when I found out:

Timothy: did you see my tweet?
*he had tweeted Idris Elba > Tyler Pery*

me: yea, what show was that for?

Timothy: ?

me: what show did they chose Perry over Elba?

Timothy: the next alex cross movie

me: OMG NO!

OMG NO!!!!
NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm crying, no really

have they seen Luther?!?! come on!!!!

Timothy: lol!!!

maybe he'll break out some madea for us

me: He's ruining my life right now

Timothy: lol

me: and it's gonna be I, Alex Cross?!

Timothy: yep

me: seriously?!?!

Timothy: we're not alone in our assesment lol

me: I could die right now

Timothy: me too man, me too

that's just horrible

me: ugh

Timothy: to add to that, rob cohen is directing, he made such films as XXX and The Fast and the Furious

me: ..............

F that, I'm not watching it lol

Timothy: lol

it wen't from cool to horrible

me: I'm sad, cause I really would have liked to see Idris Alba portray that man

Timothy: yeah man, that's a perfect match

me: Tyler Perry is not handsome enough to be Alex Cross

he's not cool

Timothy: lol

not at all

me: there is mad sexual chemistry with the girlfriend, he's got no sexual chemistry

OMG, my brain hurts

I need a cookie or something lol

I just have an apple lol

omg

I can't with the world right now

Timothy: lol, sorry to break the news to you

me: how is James Patterson o.k. with this?

medea might make an appearance

Timothy: lol, i'd die laughing

me: I'd kill myself

Timothy: i know you would lol

I love how my husband is amused by my pain lol

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