First time

Just thinking about my first concert....







(She sang this, but he was only a track!)

And the headliner....

Palate Pleaser

I've discovered the joy of beets. Right now I'm roasting them in the oven and then eating them as part of a salad or tossing them in olive oil/sea salt for a side dish.

So, that's one more vegetable on the "yum" list.

I was reading an article that suggested swiss chard was a good addition to add to one's veggie list.

Turnips? Yes. Mustards? Yes. Collards? More please. Spinach? Bring it on, baby!

Swiss chard? Only if I follow this recipe.

Talkin' bout my generation

On Saturday, I went to dinner with Andrea and her friends JP and Elford. The place was playing really good music from the 80s and 90s. We all went into total "back-in-the-day" mode. Which was kind of interesting, seeing as Andrea and I (at 34 and 33 respectively) have a few years on JP and Elford (neither has reached 30 quite yet). At one point, I found myself saying to them "You may not be old enough to remember this..." On the whole, the guys were able to keep up with our trip down memory lane. If there was something before their time, Elford would say "Yeah, I wasn't out of the chute yet". At one point, "Unbelievable" came on. JP and I insisted that it was Jesus Jones. Andrea, in her infinite wisdom, pulled the WTF card and said it was EMF. How random was it that JP, I guy I never met before, and I both came up with same wrong answer?

Age is a funny thing. If I didn't know how old Elford was before I met him, I would have sworn that he was closer to 33 than he is...and I would have thought JP was farther away from 33 than he is.


Andrea wins the throwback award for that night because she brought up Joe Jackson. I haven't thought about him since high school! For those who don't know, and those who want to sing along...

Utterly Fab Discovery: Luciousness

This weekend, I heard an awesome description for Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson - lucious.

I associate lucious with luxurious, pleasurable, rich, superb quality, indulgent, beautiful, fascinating. A lucious woman is all of that plus she exudes intelligence, confidence, sexiness and strength.

Sometimes I feel lucious. Friday morning was one of the rare times in the recent past where my luciousness was full on. I looked in the mirror and saw someone I hadn't seen in a long time. Now that things are starting to get back on track, I'm going to work harder on being that lucious woman on a more regular basis.

Good times

This weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with my a good friend. Although we don't live too far from each other, we haven't hung out in a few months.

For the last few years,she has been talking about these donuts from a place called Spaldings. Now, I'm not a donut person...so I really could've cared less. Except that she's not a donut person and she LOVES these donuts. Plus, she also knows good food. So on this trip, we stopped by Spalding's.

I feel like I tasted donuts for the first time. There are no words to adequately describe the utter deliciousness. Once I recover from the sugar coma, I'll post a picture.

Roomies

Today I was joking with a friend about the high cost of living in NYC. I told her if we both get jobs there we should share an apartment. She told me that if I was still as messy I used to be, she would kill me. I told her the only thing she had to worry about was me bringing home random hookups from the salsa club - but not to worry because I would bring one home for her too.

In my life, I have had 6 roommates. Only one of those roommates was a friend. We're friends to this day because we made the wise decision to stop being roommates. The other five roommates have made me swear off of roommates until the day that I get married.


Let's see...after roommate #1 - the one who's still my friend, there was

#2: Perpetually depressed hamster girl. Why was she perpetually depressed? "I'm Korean and as a people, Koreans are depressed." The only thing that brough joy to her life was her hamster - which happened to be an illegal resident in the dorm. One day, he was there. The next he was gone. Dorm folklore had it that the janitor got rid of it because he really hated rodents in the dorm. When he left, she was even more depressed.But she took it all in stride "Such is the lot of the Korean". I'm not making this ish up.

#3: Die hard conservative spawn of liberals. She described herself as [name omitted], half Japanese Republican who unfortunately had liberal parents. Think of the female incarnation of Alex Keaton. For the most part, she was really nice. The one thing that pushed me over the edge was when she let some random guy friend of hers record an inappropriate outgoing message on our voicemail. It was something to the effect of "_______ and _________ can't come to the phone right now because they are too busy sucking my balls" When I expressed my displeasure, she did not comprehend how inappropriate that was. [Come to think of it, the same ish happened with depressed hamster girl. She had one of her male friends do the same thing. I knew the depressed hamster girl's male friend and when I asked him how he would feel if his mother called and heard that message on his sister's machine, how would she feel. He apologized and called my mother and apologized to her for the message.]

#4: The roommate that never came back to school. She signed up to be my roommate, but then she decided to move back home. She didn't tell me this. She thought she was doing me a favor by ensuring that I got the best room in the house to myself. Instead, I went through hell from some stank ass (literally - this chick did not wash on a regular basis and she had the nerve to have sex in common areas with her boyfriend who also did not wash on a regular basis) who wanted my room. She dragged me to all sorts of offices and complained about how it wasn't fair that I got this room all to myself while she had to share a room with someone....how I engineered this with the roommate that never came back to school....how I was a queen bitch. Finally, I just gave the heiffer my room and took hers. After airing it out and making sure she vaccuumed up all of the nasty toenail clippings she left everywhere.

#5:Passive aggressive punk. Where do I begin? I answered an ad in a newspaper. He seemed cool at first. Then it went wrong...really wrong. As soon as I stopped agreeing with everything he said, he became mean. When I didn't take his unsolicited advice, he threw tantrums. He never physically abused me, although he did do his best to mentally abuse. It ended with me leaving under the cover of darkness and returning when I knew he was at work so that I could get my stuff.

#6: Too evil and crazy to mention. Literally.

Big Girl Decision

Today I made a big girl decision - to defer PC for a year. I've been having a major ethical dilemma about taking a job and then turning around and leaving it. It would have been different if I had some sort of real time table from PC...but I didn't.

So I decided to make the big girl decision and defer for a year.

Which means that I'm back on the corporate trail. Not so bad because the gigs are located in real cities.

As my wonderful and wise friends put it - this decision can only bring good into my life.

Last one from the left

Today I got some faux Chinese food from a local noodle shop. I call it faux Chinese because it's it's not Americanized and I have it on good authority from a Chinese friend that it's definitely not Chinese. However, the names of the dishes are names one would expect to find in that round the way fast food Chinese place.

But I digress...

So I opened the fortune cookie and the fortune read:
"When the moment comes, take the last one from the left."

WTF?

What happened to things like "Be true to yourself and all will reveal itself" or "You are fun to be with and have lots of friends"?

You can't even add in bed to this fortune...it makes no sense
"When the moment comes, take the last one from the left in bed"


I've been thinking about a lot of things lately - which is the right decision? how do I go about doing X or Y? The advice I have received seems to make as much sense as this fortune. Guess the only thing to do now is keep on praying and keep on living.

Reality

Some of the fam assumed that PC was a pipe dream...something that I was doing to pacify whatever angst I had from the previous gig.

Now that it's coming into play as a viable reality, these folks are having some issues. It's hard for me because I know that it's coming out of a place of love for me and a not completely understanding what I'm doing with my life.

Here are the key issues:
1. No instant gratification (i.e. I have to wait a min. of 6 months for an assignment)
2. No money for my service
3. Uncertainity of assignment location

I know that if I were to give in to their idea of what my life should be like, as soon as I uttered the first regret at not going for PC - they would say "Yeah, you should've done that." After years and years of going through this, I've finally learned that I need to stop looking for their approval and do me.

The nice thing about this is that there is no love loss. Although they don't quite get it - they acknowledge that they don't quite get it. Then they tell me how much they love me.

More random reasons why I heart Chicago

Funkadesi


SummerDance

Put both on your list of "Things to experience in this lifetime"

Freedom!

As I was going through my bank account, I noticed that there was no automatic withdrawal for my gym membership. Then it dawned on me "My contract is over!"

I actually used my membership. But now that the weather is nicer, there's more daylight, and I don't have a full time job yet - I would rather use Mother Nature's gym.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Waiting

Now it's all about waiting.

PC came through. Now I have to wait on further details.

Resumes are out there. Now I have to wait for interviews.

Feeling better than last week. Now I have to wait until I'm back to full strength to do the ripping and running I used to do.

On the other hand....

PC came through. Now I have time to build my $$$.

Resumes are out there. Now I have time to do adequate research and be thoroughly prepped for interviews.

Feeling better than last week. Now I can breathe through both nostrils and am no longer hacking up a lung.

Same Curl

Too funny.

Say what?

I started packing today.

Where am I going?
TBD.

When am I going?
TBD.

The only known is that I am leaving this burg for something/place much better sometime in the near future...and going will require moving. So I'm getting a jump on things and I'm packing.
Makes sense to me, makes sense to those who know me...but it doesn't make sense to the general public.

I ran into my neighbor while bringing boxes into the apartment. He asked me when I was moving. "I am not sure". He then said "Where are going?" "I am not sure." He stopped and looked at me and then said "Oh, you haven't decided." I corrected him - "No, I'm not sure where I'm going and when I'll go, but I know I'm going sometime in the near future." He looked at me as if I had said "Purple pigs smoke crack but only when Homer Simpson makes out with Big Mamma under the yellow men."

I also had the same type of experience with interviews. One interviewer, who used to work for the same company I used to work for, told the recruiter that he was confused about why I left my former company. He said"Well, if she doesn't like {city} so much, why is she conducting her job search from there?" He couldn't wrap his head around why ANYONE would leave this company without knowing exactly where they were going or what they were doing. The other company phrased it like this "She has made a brave decision and we're not completely comfortable with that. " It's funny how the recruiters get it, but the interviewers haven't. I tell them all the same story - the truth. Being the consummate marketing professional that I am, I have devised a way to communicate the story in a way that won't upset their conventional notions AND it will highlight one of my strengths.

On a more positive note, PC interview is right around the corner!

Almost over...

The funky virus has packed its belongings and is moving out!

New love

I'm in love and his name is Ralph. We met in NYC and I don't know how I've lived this long without him. I've seen him around many times before but I never paid much attention to him because I thought he was out of my league.

We were introduced by a saleswoman named Judith. When we finally met, he made me feel really good, but I was still hesitant. However, I was in dire need of something comfortable, so I decided to make him part of my life. Upon checkout, I was pleasantly surprised. Although he looked out my league - he was really wasn't.

Since then, he's been the only one that comforts me when I need it. Those other jeans feel rough and scratchy. His denim is buttery soft and makes my butt look good. Plus, they fit perfectly after being washed.

Oh Ralph, what have you done to me?

No NYC this time

Got word back from my interview - didn't get the job....or as the recruiter put it "they don't want to continue with your candidacy".

Pasa lo que pasa. I'm not really too upset about this one passing me by. Maybe because my focus is on getting over this funky virus that has decided to wreck havoc with my nasal passages...maybe because I have another NYC interview on the horizon. Most likely it's because I know that I prayed for God's will to be done throughout the whole ordeal and going in I was accepting of whatever the answer would be.

Talk to Me

Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor do their damn thing in this movie. Show em some love and go see it. It's funny, poignant and all around good movie - the story of a DC radio DJ and his best friend.

Here's the man, myth and legend that inspired the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7YPlGRX5w

Divine intervention

This weekend was an unplanned, but welcomed adventure. I flew into NYC for an interview. Just a day trip.

I was so excited that I didn't really sleep the night before. I was up at 3 AM re-reading materials about the company and practicing my interview answers out loud. Got to the airport at 6:00 AM for my 7:40 AM flight. Had an exit row seat (love the leg room) and the flight took off on time.

When we got to LaGuardia, the pilot announced there was trouble on the ground and we were in a holding pattern for 20 minutes. That 20 minutes soon turned into a diversion to Pittsburgh to refuel and waiting in Pittsburgh until we were cleared to go back to LaGuardia. At 12:15 PM, I finally stepped off of the plane. The scheduled arrival was 9:30 AM.

As soon as the pilot announced cell phone use was okay, I got a call from Delta saying that my flight home was cancelled and they rebooked me for Saturday morning. No worries -called the woman that made my travel plans and let her handle it.

Interviews went fine. The travel chick found me a great hotel in Manhattan (Hilton -New York on 6th Ave between 53rd and 54th). Had no clothes other than my suit and some heels, so I needed some retail intervention. The hotel had an 11% discount at Bloomies so I hopped into a bike cab to the one on 59th & Lex. The driver tried his hardest to get me to say yes to a date - to no avail. To his credit, he wasn't the creepy lech type that I sometimes encounter in NY. He was a nice enough guy and respectful when I said no.

Got to Bloomies and met Ms. Judith - one of the coolest salespeople I've met in a long time. The only jeans they had were Ralph Lauren for a pretty penny (even with my 11% discount). I bit the bullet and decided to buy them...only to discover that they were on sale for 40% off. With the additional 11%, that brought them into the range of more than I ever paid for a pair of jeans, but only $10 more than jeans at Lane Bryant at regular price. I couldn't see paying $180 for emergency shoes, so I hopped over to H&M (which had no plus sizes) and got some flip-flops for $5.90.

I have cousins who live in NYC, so I gave them a call. The oldest one invited me to a KRS One concert in Central Park...a free KRS One concert. I was too tired to move so I passed. But, next time I go we'll get together and do something.

The next morning, there was an even bigger surprise as I had to pay for the hotel and the town car to the airport. I thought these would be covered by the company. Thank God I had the funds to cover these expenses. In the past, I would've been up the creek without a paddle.

This trip was definitely full of divine intervention. At no point did I lose my cool or feel like things weren't going to work out for the best. I was even able to muster up energy and professionalism for the interview.


Thankfully, I had enough funds to pay for it -which was a surprise. I also had to pay for the town car to the airport the next morning. Another surprise.

Age ain't nuthin but a numbah

Just got back from New York City. While I get some much needed rest to recover from my wonderful adventure, here's something for ya from the Philadelphia City Paper.

Flex Appeal
At 86, great-grandmother Morjorie Newlin keeps pumping iron.
by Tasha Ho-Sang

Fourteen years ago, when Morjorie Newlin was 72, her neighborhood supermarket had 50-pound bags of kitty litter on sale. Without anyone to help her carry the bags back to her house, she struggled mightily under the load. Never a particularly athletic woman, but staunchly independent, she decided that she had to do something about her deteriorating physical capabilities.
Though osteoporosis was also on her mind, the septuagenarian began lifting weights — for her cat.

"I want to be as independent as I can be, for as long as I can," says Newlin, a great-grandmother and retired nurse who turns 86 tomorrow. "I just want to do things for myself."
After 13 years of weight training, Newlin is more than taking care of herself. At her two-story home in Mt. Airy, Newlin, who runs up the stairs with the sprightliness of a 10-year-old, has a room dedicated entirely to plaques, certificates and trophies (some almost as tall as her) from bodybuilding competitions that have taken her as far away as Italy, France and Germany. She's won more than 40 trophies in her late-blooming career. "There are so many, I don't know what to do with all of them," she says.

"I chuckled when I saw this little old lady walk inside the gym," says Richard Brown, a personal trainer at Rivers Gym in Mt. Airy, where Newlin began her training. "I was a little leery. I was just training young athletes at the time."

The little old lady quickly showed him what an older athlete could do.

"She kept coming in day after day, week after week, and month after month," Brown remembers. "She didn't want to do 'girly' workouts. She wanted to train with us fellows."
"After a few months of training, I looked at her physique and knew she was ready for a [bodybuilding] show," he continues. "She definitely had something to show."
Newlin was bench-pressing 65 pounds when she was 73 years old. A year later she was throwing up 85.

The bodybuilding competitions are broken into two divisions. Newlin's first competition was in the Amateur Athletic Union, which is open to the public.

Newlin recalls being a little reluctant when she saw the string bikini she'd have to wear in front of the bodybuilding audience.

"I knew the contest meant a lot to my trainer so I went along with it," she says. To everyone's surprise, Newlin won. The crowd went crazy on hearing she was 74 years old.

Newlin began her competition career in that AAU's Master's Division, which splits contestants into two categories: under and over a certain age limit, usually 35 or 45 years old. Newlin obviously fell way over the dividing line, wherever it was set, but was competing and winning against women half her age.

"I was always the oldest in all my competitions," says Newlin.

The daughter of very active Barbadian immigrants, Newlin admits that athleticism is in her genes: "My family is used to walking and running long distances." Although she's taking a break from bodybuilding competitions for now, Newlin is still training at least three days a week, now at Bally Total Fitness in Cedarbrook, and can still throw down with the best of them. "I could bench-press 90 pounds with a spotter. I can dead lift 95 pounds. I can squat 135 pounds," says Newlin.

She's been featured on Oprah and The View, and has appeared in commercials in Barbados. She spends her time out of the gym as a motivational speaker at schools and banquets, discussing the importance of exercise, weight training and dieting. "A lady called me earlier this week from Hawaii," Newlin says. "She asked questions about how to use weights."

Though some in her position might wonder how much longer they can keep it up — or how far they might have come if they'd started earlier — those questions never cross Newlin's mind. "Every day is different. The next day will take care of itself," she says with Zen-like calm.
"Age is only a number," says Brown. "There is only one Morjorie Newlin. ... She could do this for as long as she wants."