Being Black Might Win Obama The Election

If Obama wins this election, it might be because he is Black. Think about it:

Hillary didn't take Obama seriously (until far too late - and maybe not now). If she had, she would have run a better campaign from the get-go.

McCain could not have been taking Obama seriously if he thought that picking Palin was going to do real damage.

If Obama was a white man, I'm sure that Hillary would have battled him differently. McCain would have too.

I believe that Clinton and McCain thought something like: "Oh, yeah, he's charismatic, but..." I don't believe that they have taken him seriously as someone who is as intelligent as, say Bill Clinton. Plantation mentality is coming out in a whole lot of people.

But you know what really bothers me about this? It is that in not taking Obama seriously, they were not taking the citizens of this country serious. They didn't give us enough credit for being able to recognize Obama's intelligence, leadership, compassion, and call for change. Americans of all races and lifestyles are at least paying attention to what is going on. We have not, in most cases, just herded up like sheep in behind the same old shepherds.

So, yeah, race is definitely a factor in this election. Race is always a factor in just about everything, but this time, race might be a factor in Obama's favor.

Peace
--Free

Why Not A Black Man?

As you can probably tell, this was sent to my email & I just copied and pasted it right over (with my no-formatting behind!) I wish I knew who was responsible so I could give credit...

Why Not A Black Man Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark? But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light. Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time? But people don't think it is time for him to run a country. Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in and a place for the president to live in (The Capital and the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) and P ierre L'Enfant)? But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself. Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)? But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery. Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt? But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries. Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on every day? But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of a bad president. Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough and brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas and Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math? But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us. So you see my Brothers and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forgot our past, which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our future. We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so let us all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things and more. We all are as s trong as our weakest link, so do not be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME AND BE THE FIRST! OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ! LET US ALL CONTINUE PRAYING THAT THIS PRESIDENT WILL ADHERE TO AND BE LED BY GOD.

This needs to be an Obama ad

I'm stealing from Jill once again.

Saw this and had to just sit for a moment and let my soul be peaceful.

Call It Out, Chris! Call It Out, Campbell!

I'm so mad at the Clintons right now. They are showing their (ahem) true colors. So, thank you, Chris Rock, for calling them on that mess



Then, I see from Jill's spot over at Writes Like She Talks that Campbell was on the Palin game with a rant:

Monday, Monday

I spent a weekend with the satellite screwed up for the bedroom television. So, I did some reading and thinking - all t.v.-free. Read Michael Dyson's analysis of the music of Marvin Gaye in the book "Mercy, mercy me : the art, loves, and demons of Marvin Gaye." (Of course, then I had to jump online and have the Loussac Library hold some Marvin CDs for me. I just HAVE to listen again to the songs to get what Dyson got - cause I didn't get all that he apparently did.

Rounding off my weekend, I read some more Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. And because I have mental spasms at times, I got to thinking that Evanavich's Plum stories are a little bit on the... uh, demeaning side when it comes to character of Lula. First of all, Lula is a "former 'ho." Second of all, she is fat and sassy & usually has pink or yellow or orange hair. Probably I'm overthinking it. Probably Evanovich just thought Lula up with no hidden meanings. And anyway, the main character, Plum (a white chick), is kind of skanky at times. And anyway again, the writing is good and the books are entertaining. I just need to get over myself sometimes, or write my own damn books and even things out!

So that was the weekend. Now it's Monday (dialysis day) which means we had to get to the clinic by 6:30. Good thing Walmart opens at 6:00 cause I can always pop in and get some stuff done.

Ran into an old acquaintance in WalMart & it was like seeing a ghost. Had heard a long while back that this person had died (by drunk-falling out of a tipped back chair & cracking his skull). See how rumors get started? Came home to check the news and saw something that tells what others think about Palin:

• British minister says Palin is 'horrendous'from www.breitbart.com "Her politics are horrendous, but actually she's struck a chord with people -- 'I'm a maverick, I'm not part of those powerful people' -- and people identified with that."

Then this (more silliness on the local levels):

• from mudflats.wordpress.com Well, if you’ve been like me this evening, you’ve had one eye glued to the “Obama Sign Cam”. Mudflatter ‘poverty kids’ teacher’ has had an Obama sign stolen from the front yard - twice. So, her son set up a live webcam of the sign in hopes of catching the thief in the act.

Since I'm in a sick-of-politics mood (still), the above was the extent of trolling the Net for more... I moved on to something good (as always) from my web buddy, John Baker:

• from John Baker's Blog by john baker

  At the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival Eleanor Wachtel interviewed the American writer, Lydia Davis. Both of Davis’s parents were writers and her father taught at Columbia University. Wachtel asked her what it was like growing up in that environment:

  It made you very self-conscious. . . But we couldn’t really say anything after a while - I mean after a certain age; I imagine at three I didn’t mind - but at a certain age we couldn’t speak without being aware of how we were saying something, how it was being phrased, as well as what we were saying. So if we made a sort of clumsy repetition, one of them might very well point out, sort of lightly with a smile, but it was a very language saturated household . . .

  . . . my father would consider very carefully what I had said and that made me feel very insecure. I don’t know if this is a good example, but I remembered it just the other day. When he was in the nursing home - you know how you want to say the things that you don’t want to have forgotten to say . . . our family was not, as you can imagine, given to spontaneity - I said to him, “You’ve been a very good father,” I just wanted him to know that, and he said, “In what respect?”

Now my thoughts are all twisted up. I'm thinking about how we sometimes miss part of life by trying to be what others expect (and how sometimes that is a good thing, but somehow it's a bad thing). I'm thinking about how if we just felt free enough to say and do things the best way we know how (no matter what anyone else thinks), we could be so much more for ourselves and for others. I guess this is what makes the great artists, musicians, poets and writers and statesmen great. And I guess this is why there are probably hundreds of people out there with un-shared talents and gifts and thoughts. So many people probably hiding their light under a bushel (is that the term?).

So.

I decided that in addition to ignoring politics for a few days, I'm also going to give up the heavy thoughts. But just for a few days.

Tired of politics

No more posting about politics or politicians. At least until after the debate. I'm sick of it all.

In the meantime, what's everybody else doing? Are you happy or sad? Doing well or not? Feeling up or down? In love or hating on somebody?

I'm feeling nosy and lazy. Give me some gossip or something else to brighten up this day.

Peace

I Got Told

When everyone was chanting about it taking a village to raise a child, I just knew they were talking about my family. My family is a village. We have a big house, but there are eight of us here on a normal day & that can go up to twenty if anyone is sick, graduating, getting married/divorced or is pregnant. We have tribal councils about everything. The men in our family get nervous when the women group up for a chat. They think that we might be having a meeting about one of them (and, usually, they're right).

But I ramble.

Thing is, we're not a family so much as we are a brood of loved ones. On one of those normal days I mentioned, there are five adults and three kids. (One of the adults & one of the kids is not blood, but they are still family.)

Sorry. Still rambling.

Anyway, one of the kids is my nephew Devon. Devon is in the second grade & has the attention span of someone stuck in a boring church service. Everyone around here is always reminding Devon to focus. The other day, I had a serious talk with Devon to explain why it's important to stay focused. I told him that when he's not focused, he wastes time trying to finish homework or chores. Ten minutes later, when Devon was supposed to be doing his homework, he got distracted, lost his pencil and forgot if his worksheet was in his backpack or in another room...

"Devon! You have got to learn to focus," I told him (yet again). "We just had that talk, baby."

Devon rounded up all his stuff and finished his work.

Later that evening, I was fixing dinner and realized I didn't have onions and bell peppers for the spaghetti sauce. I figured I'd just run up to the store. Then I couldn't find my purse. Devon found my purse for me. (It was in the hall closet. I don't know why.) Then I couldn't find my shoes. Devon found my shoes. (They were in the garage instead of on the shoe rack in the house. I don't know why.) Then I couldn't find the car keys. Devon helped me look everywhere until he gave up and decided to get some juice. Devon found the keys. (They were in the refrigerator. I don't know why.)

Finally, I got to the store, got back and started back on making dinner. No garlic cloves. Devon was watching while I substituted garlic powder. People in our village expect cloves.

Everybody got in from work, we sat down to eat and I apologized for the sauce, saying I'd had a crappy day, lost my purse and shoes and keys, blah, blah, blah...

"Yeah," Devon told them. "She needs to learn to focus."

White Privilege and the 2008 Election

Heads up on a Buzzflash article I found on Digg:

Context is everything in politics and journalism, and author Tim Wise has the inside track on white (and male) privilege, a concept that most white voters don't comprehend but whose relationships and decisions are governed by this inescapable concept.

That was someone else's lead in to an article I caught earlier. Summarizes beautifully everything to do with the mess that is 2008 elections... Everything.

read more | digg story

And Sarah Came Marching Home Again...

Big thanks to Mudflats for keeping up on the town hall meeting in Anchorage (where Alaskans got to sound off about Guv Palin). I hear it wasn't pretty...

And Mudflat got us a scoop on how Alaska women feel about the guv. Still not pretty.

Talk radio here is all abuzz with how Palin dissed indigenous Alaskans (and don't forget about the disrespect shown for Juneteenth organizers). But no biggie. Apparently she can't do a whole lot right (pun intended) for anybody but her own ego.

Oh, boy, winter is a'coming...

Peace
--Free

P.S.: BTW, since Alaska is so in the news lately, I highly recommend the Mudflat site for all your political news an info from a real perspective.

field negro: Sarah's sit down.

Beautiful. I can't wait to see what has to say after Part II of the interview. Yeah. Palin's pretty pathetic, but she could very well end up in the Number Two spot...

field negro: Sarah's sit down.Field

My Other Bog (er, I mean, BLOG)

I love computers, the internet, my cell phone. Unfortunately, I am still such a goof when it comes to using them. I mean, I use my computer like it's a part of me and get around the internet just fine, and I have even learned to do things on my cell phone that would be amazing to a time-traveler from, say, 1998.

But (and you knew this was coming) I get caught up when it comes to the finer details of these techno-wonders.

For instance, I have learned to check my email on my phone, but I'm still troubled when trying to do things like adding a signature to text messages. *shrug*

The thing with this blogging hobby is that, apparently, I don't have a handle on all the settings features. I can't get my "feed" to work on both blogs, Technorati is apparently BLIND to one of the blogs... You get the picture.

Anyway, I found out from one of my readers that, even though they have been reading THIS blog of mine from almost the beginning, they had NO idea about my other blog.

Hmmph.

So here's the 411:

My OTHER blog is called BLinks (for Black Links - cute, huh?) and I originally intended for its focus to be on links to resources for Black folk. However... I realized that no matter your race, we ALL like info on resources about things like... Well, like just about anything. So BLinks ended up being my blog giving out links and info to resources about all kinds of stuff - writing, reading, shopping, glamorizing, loving, computing... EVERYthing.

Now, if like my one reader, you didn't know about BLinks, that was the link. If you have ideas for posts - ya know, if you want me to scavenge up some info about some-something or other, shoot me a line. (And, good grief, if you can help me out with getting my Blogger settings under control, don't hesitate.)

Peace
--Free

Money Is Loose

Well today is the day that a whole lotta Alaskans get their Permanent Fund Dividend checks. That's $3269 for each eligible resident of the state. (And, no, I'm no longer eligible since I moved away, came back and have not been back for the 2-year period... damnit.)

Anyway, I have friends who are couples or have kids. Think about it, if you have a spouse and just two kids, that's 4 checks totalling ** $13,076 coming into your house. (**Note: that's the $2069 PLUS a $1200 energy rebate for the first time. The checks go out to 610,768 residents)

Now, I could be the socio-political intellectual and discuss this from a different angle, but I'm just plain old Free. So I'm gonna talk about what it'll be like trying to get my broke ass into WalMart or Costco to do any shopping for the next month... Ain't gonna happen, people.

I've been around when the PFD checks were under 2 grand. Damn near got trampled trying to get to the dairy aisle at Carrs grocery store because of a group of old people buying up from the $5 movie rack. One year I saw a young couple and their three little snotty-nosed, nappy-headed kids pulling a cart through WalMart loaded up with enough televisions, Game Boys and potato chips (yes, Lays potato chips) for four families. All I could think was that Mama and Daddy should have been getting the kids some clothes and hair appointments instead. I can almost promise you that within two months, that same family was broker than they had ever been before the checks came.

It's kind of amusing to watch what people do with their PFD money. Some folks spend wise - investing in their home repairs or putting money away for emergencies, paying off debts, etc - but then you have those folks who can just feel the money burning a hole in their pockets.

Of course, businesses have been in high gear promoting their products for months with special "PFD Sales". Everybody with a business licence has found a way to lure the customers in. Everywhere you look, there are advertisements:" Double Your Fund!" "Double Div Days"...

One thing that always tickled me is how the same businesses that didn't exactly throw out the welcome mat for certain people (minorities, for example and especially Native Alaskans), suddenly get very open-minded during PFD time.

Ah, well. I'm safe this year. Since I'm still one of the broke folk, I did all my errands and stocking up on what I need BEFORE these damn checks came out. Now I don't have to risk my life trying to body-hop my way through any stores. I plan to spend my weekend at the one place that seems to empty out when the PFDs hit: the library.

Peace
--Free

The Republican Rock Star is Ba-aaack!

The bitch is back and people are already talking. I thought what this one guy who observed the welcoming rally had to say was ...

"It's dangerous up here to do any truth telling -- we all want to have a future and she's going to control the state for the next four years whether she's vice president or governor or senator or turning the wheels from home in Wasilla. I mean she's a powerful woman," Jay Ramras, a Republican state representative from Fairbanks, said in an interview earlier this week."

...interesting, huh?

Then he added:
"That's how I regard her is the American Idol of politics, I've never seen anything quite like it," Ramras said. "It's improbable. It's the most improbable thing that I have ever seen in my life and probably ever will. But God bless her."
I should probably mention that the man speaking happens to own a lodge that was just across the road from where the rally was held. Sounds like he's no fool about who you have to kiss up to.

I guess the rally was huge. Hmmm... I remember when it wasn't a good thing (according to the McCain camp) to have "rock star" rallies. Oh, wait. That's only when it wasn't HIS game. Again - whatever.

And in other news, it seems the attorney Palin has dealing with the Trooper-gate mess is now hollering investigator bias. Yeah. Okay. Whatever. You know that's how people talk when things aren't going the way they want them to. No matter. All Palin has to do is stall everything for another 50 or so days & it won't much matter. Once you're crowned American Idol, it doesn't matter when the dirt starts leaking.

Blog List

***Yes, I originally posted this on BLinks, but good stuff bears repeating. Or copying and pasting. Or... Well, you know what I mean.***

The weblog awards just came out and I got to thinking how many good black blogs are out there that I NEVER hear about until I see the list.

Let me tell ya: there are a TON of blogs out there in Blackdom. The problem is, there are so many good ones that I keep adding to my blogroll. Then, of course, there's the matter of time to keep up on them all.

So, today: a HUGE list of blogs for y'all to check out. I may have to do this deal in stages so from now on, just check the tag "Blog Roll". (If I missed any good ones, let me know.)

In no particular order....

• 1969
• 99 Products
• Brokey McPoverty
• Fat, Black & Losin' It
• Me, Myself An Eye
• Conversate Is Not A Word (I LUV the name!)
  
• Yeah, I Said It
• Afrobella
• Blackfolks
• The Field Negro
• The World According to Supa Sister
• The Angry Black Woman
• Miz New Agenda
• Electronic Village
• African American Opinion
• Black Men In America
• Greasy Guide
• The Root
• What Black Men Think
• Black Snob

Whew! That's enough for this morning. I'll be back with more as I pull them up.

Better than therapy

You know, people, I may be on to something with this laughter-for-therapy thing. After yesterday's post, I was laughed so much I burned an easy 100 calories.

Today, tho, I'm going for safer humor. I'm a little nervous about making fun of the Lord's people (or at least they were singing His praises). It's not like I need any more negative complications in my life right now.

I found this video of a guy so happy to be getting married that he had to shout. (This may sound twisted, but I don't think that shouting at the wedding would get me all turned on for the honeymoon. I mean, whatever turns you on, but I wouldn't want to think about my man getting so excited in the bedroom that he might start speaking in tongues or something. I'm just saying.)





This one here made me feel a little bad. I didn't realize just how ignorant some people are. And there are people all over the world laughing at us... Lord have mercy...






Just hope no one is asking to be taken to our leader...



(But HE was "ready on Day One"...)





(You're partly right, Bush - you are a dick)

Oh-ma-goodness, I'm on a Bush kick. I had forgotten just how stupid this man is. Somebody should just slip these videos into a campaign ad for Obama (esp the part about Bush having been a governor...)

The first of this next one reminds me a little of Palin not understanding what it is that a VP does.



All I can say about this next one is, uh... "Woooooooowwww"




Okay, okay... I have toned enough stomach muscles with laughter. I'm stopping now. Right now.

But wait - there's just one more. (The reporter asking the question in this next one is not just being cool in his shades, but BLIND! I'm so embarrassed for Bush with this one):



Now I'm done.

Just For Giggles

I've been needing all the laughter I can get these days. A girlfriend & I spent some time remembering some things that have made us giggle like silly chillins. I call these my "Memory Lane Giggles" since they've all been around for a while.

My all time favorite is one that I'm sure we've ALL seen before (even tho I do believe that I am committing some kind of sin by laughing at this kid). He's SO sincere, bless him. Still, I dare you not to laugh...



Whooo! Wait, wait, wait... Let me catch my breath.

Okay.

Next up, this was only funny to me because of the hosts. One brother was trying hard to hold it together, but Armstrong (the other dude) gave it up right away. I've loved him ever since!




Okay, I do need to quit cuz I can't sing the Alphabet Song, but I bet you won't see me on t.v. or up in the choir stands doing solos either!

This next brother here, bless him, I could have dealt with this if he hadn't forgotten the words & then let it get so good to him that he yells parts of the song, trying to go all Jodeci on us.

My mother would say something positive like, "Well, at least he was up there, praising the Lord." (I'd get smacked for doing it, but I'd have to tell Mama that he was just up there making a racket!)



All right. That's gotta be enough for today. I'm pretty sure that my angels are watching me and plotting to teach me a lesson by having me fall and bust my behind all out in public. Just plain payback...

Keep smiling, people

P.S.: This felt good. I may have to change the direction of this blog...

Blogging & Family

I am SO shocked. My niece and most of my family have never been to my blog... Wow. Here I was, wondering why I didn't get more comments... (I even deleted the My Following feature because I wasn't getting any followers, & I wondered why. Well, NOW I know.)

Here's the hilarious thing: I've been having trouble with Technorati (Gabby, that's another site you might want to check out if you are going to start a blog), so I thought that was my whole problem. Not. I have a counter now and I can see that I am getting quite a bit of traffic, just not the kind of folks who like to comment.

For shame!

So. Now I am passing on the word to my fam 'n such. We'll see if those sorry buggers actually come around and check me out.

Peace
--Free

Hilarious!

Help! I've fallen down laughing at this mess & I can't get up...

I don't know if this is real. I don't care. It was my morning chuckle. (Thanks to Electronic Village for the heads up on this one.)

Whooooooo!!!

Is It Just Me Or.....?

Didn't I hear McCain making noise about Barack Obama's "rock star" status (and implying a lack of experience)?

Wasn't the McCain camp always trying to say that the media was on Obama's side?

Didn't McCain boast that he would rather lose the election than be president? (In other words, he wouldn't do something he didn't believe in?)

Okay. Answer me this:

Isn't Palin looking a little bit rock star herself these days? And if she's so experienced, why is McCain keeping her in school away from interviews?

And isn't the media just loving it up with McCain/Palin since he picked her as VP?

And does McCain really only do what he believes in - or in what he believes works???

Seems like to me that McCain looked at the crowds paying attention to Obama and decided that if you can't beat someone, you steal their game.

Just some things that make ya go hmmmm...

And, while I'm on a rant - have you noticed Hillary seems awful quiet since Palin came on the scene? Wonder if she's of the mind that she'd rather see a woman ANYwhere in the White House before Obama??? I'll hold out on that judgment until I see if Hillary is going to step up for her party's candidate.

Peace
--Free

Boo AT&T, BOO!!!!

Okay. I'm a little bit heated.

I finally get some national cellular service that actually hits Alaska without price-gauging me like local companies will do... but I will be danged if I still can't get full respect JUST BECAUSE I LIVE IN ALASKA...

Okay, here's what AT&T advertises as the MediaNet service:

MEdia Net Unlimited $15.00 -

• Unlimited high-quality video with CV,
• unlimited mobile web, and
• unlimited access to email, ringtones, games, music and more.

And that is straight from their website (which might have disclaimers) and also from the service rep who hooked me up (and sista gal didn't mention any "not in Alaska" mess when she was putting in my order...)

Here's what I get - because I LIVE IN ALASKA, damnit:

• unlimited mobile web.....Check
• unlimited access to email, ringtones*, games*, music* and more ....Check

*the access is free but the items are not (unless you got something like Zedge, which I do!)

Notice what I'm, missing??? That high-quality CV, right?

Because the rep had gotten me all excited about the CV, I was pretty sad when I couldn't get anything to load. I contacted AT&T and was told that because my area (Alaska) doesn't have the 3g network (whatever the heck that is), I don't get CV.

Cool.

What's not cool is that I also don't get a discount on the service.

Now, is it just me or doesn't it seem reasonable to you that if I'm paying $15/month for a 3-part service and I only get 2 parts ... a $5/mo discount should be allowed??? Is that just me???

I'm not done yet. I'm going to be contacting somebody at AT&T to find out why my $15 in Alaska doesn't get what $15 does in the Lower 48. Because here's the thing: I just KNOW that when they DO get that 3g or whatever up here, they're going to want to charge Alaskans MORE for the service. It always happens, never fails.

In the meantime, 2 things:

1. I'm blabbing EVERYWHERE - on every survey panel, blog, website and phone call I get to - about this tricky little billing glitch for Alaskans, and
2. BOOOOO to AT&T. That's not good customer service, people!
   

Double Standards/Double Talk

Wow. They just make this too easy...

Go over and watch a fascinating spot on Daily Show/You Tube

Power of the Vote

Last I heard, there were 8 million in the Black community not yet registered to vote. I don't know how many of my White, Asian, Indian and other brothers and sisters there are who haven't registered yet. (I myself am an Independent.) We all, regardless of our race, need to stand up and speak up in the one most powerful way that we can.

Think about this: looks, money, access and other sometimes elusive factors might determine what you can or cannot achieve in certain arenas of society. The one thing that you have that is equal to everyone else is your vote. Bill Gates is richer than most, Naomi Cambell is more beautiful than most, Marilyn vos Savant is smarter than most. One thing you and I have in common with these people? 1 vote.

Please, people, get out there and get registered. Do your thing, express your power. As the young folk say, "Rock the Vote!"

Still not convinced? Here's some Black voter history that might inspire you. And even more relevant to women and young people.

Do we want to go back to a time when this was true?:

By the time of the Civil War, most white men were allowed to vote, whether or not they owned property, thanks to the efforts of those who championed the cause of frontiersmen and white immigrants (who had to wait 14 years for citizenship and the right to vote, in some cases). Literacy tests, poll taxes, and even religious tests were used in various places, and most white women, people of color, and Native Americans still could not vote. (from iwantmyvote.com)

Sisters, especially my Black sisters, think about Fannie Lou Hamer (about midway the page). You can go here to read more about her, or here, or here...

Peace
--Free

Facts vs Lies

I was just wondering if anyone had noticed the "discrepancies" in the speech. Well, someone did.

I also love that someone compared Obama's record to Palin's (since the Republican's like to do comparing of their own). And it's all summed up nicely over at Pam's House Blend...

I'm just saying.

(By the way, go HERE for some cool stuff!)

Wonderful Speech By Palin

Not.

Look, after all the country-hick, idiot portrayals of Palin, expectations were so low for her that as long as she didn't drool or forget her own name, she was okay. But was the speech great? No. I didn't hear anything to build up the citizens of this country. All I heard was the same Republican lines meant to tear down the Obama campaign.

Where was the hope for ALL citizens? Where was the offer to be willing to work across party lines?

So, YAWWWWWN.

I'm waiting for Palin to have to think a little faster on her feet - like poor Tucker Bounds did when asked to give some specifics about her experience in foreign policy....

Unwind

The last several days of the McCain/Palin mess has me tuckered out. So, today during my afternoon errands run, I shut off the talk radio and turned up the Earth, Wind & Fire.

Man.

Nothing like EWF to mellow you all the way out.

Seriously. When's the last time you heard horns like those on "In the Stone"? Or a slow jam like "Wait"? This is stuff you can crank up in the car and not die of shame when you pass a car filled with little kids. No talk about grinding or thongs or mysteriously named body parts. Just plain ol' good music and musicianship.

I haven't listened to much new music lately (except for that damn Hannah Whoever mess that my niece is obsessed with and those little Jonas people and whatever I happen to hear sonic-booming my car when I'm driving around town). I wonder if there are any artists out there actually using instruments the way EWF or Barry White did. Are any of them pouring their soul into their songs like Lenny Williams or Otis Redding or Teddy P. did? The last attempt at putting some old school soul and sweat into their craft was youngsters along the lines of Jodeci (who were good, but sometimes ruined it all by trying just a. little. too. hard).

So, anyway, I just had to toss out that little rant. Maybe some of your "growner" folk will be inspired to take a cue from Mr. Pendergrass and "turn out the lights and light a candle"...

Peace
--Free

She was vetted - sort of

I've said it before & I'll say it again: I don't know why the HELL anyone would want to run for such high public office especially when you read stuff like this about what goes into the vetting process. (And, by the way, until I look it up, can someone please tell me where the term "vetting" came from???)

So, McCain's people are saying the vetted Palin. Oooo-kay... so he still picked her? Gracious. What great judgment that shows.

Actually, I'm not so bothered by McCain picking Palin. I'm bothered more by Palin accepting. Here's why:

1. As someone on a talk-radio show brought up, back when Clinton was touting the "it takes a village" message, Republicans were protesting with, "No, it takes a mother and father", etc. So, let me ask this: what village is going to help Palin (mother of five & running for VP) raise a special needs infant?
2. Palin wants the Clinton voters. Why? Palin didn't like Clinton's message to the Clinton voters. She and Clinton have nothing in common except for the fact that they are women.
3. Palin plays the gender card when it suits her. One minute, she's to be fawned over because she is a "woman" governer. The next minute, no one should bring up her responsibilities as a mother (because they wouldn't do the same to a man).
   
4. Some of the things that endeared her to Alaskan voters (refusing to be away from her family a lot & even adjusting her schedule to allow for that) is not an option for a VP.
   
5. She wants to compare herself to Clinton (who reminded us that she wasn't a cookie-baking, stay-at-home mommy) while still pandering to the cookie-baking, stay-at-home mommies. Pick one, girl. Define yourself by your actions, not your words.
6. If a parent is going to voluntarily put themselves in the public spotlight, plan ahead. Find out what kinds of pics your kids have posted up online.
   
7. If a candidate is going to brag about being open and honest, don't use your infant to shield the pregnant belly of your teenager because you weren't being open and honest...

Peace
--Free

I Love Gadgets

In case you can't tell, I love gadgets. Anything that shines or beeps or can be enhanced with wallpapers, backgrounds or extra memory - that's the stuff.

So... I have a few places around the web where I like to browse & dream:

Coolest Gadgets - They have stuff for just about anybody, like the "Remote Controlled Hovering Space Surfer" (for real), a stonebake pizza oven (I want, I want) and this wearable alarm clock that I really should get for my niece who doesn't simply sleep but goes into 9-hour comas.

Techfresh - These guys seem a little more serious & upscale. The first thing that caught my eye was the Solar Cell Tree Charger (no kidding, you can charge a cell phone or camera from something that looks cute sitting on your desk). Then they have a whole section that I need to tell my nephew about: "Upcoming Cell Phones". He's a man who likes to have the latest phone before it even comes out, so...

Think Geek - Nothing on the first page grabbed my short-assed attention span, but if you want to browse, check out something I saw about Jolt drinks in new flavors.

Net Gadget - I don't know what it says about me that I jumped right over to the "Spy Stuff", but once I got there, I was a little disappointed. Yeah, they have things that sound cool, like the bionic ear and walkie-talkie sunglasses, but they look cheap 'n cheesy like the stuff you'd find on a dusty flea-market table.

Discovery (Channel) Store - Even if you find something cheesy here, it won't be cheap. I actually fell in love with the strange-looking shuttle and globe set (it hovers, people; how cool is that? Too bad it hovers right out of my price range for something that I can't eat, live in or drive...). The anti-gravity globe looks nice, so does the magnetic globe puzzle (which I could actually afford).

Gadget Universe - It at least LOOKS a little less flea-market like than Net Gadget, but has some similar spy stuff. So if you want an "agent cam" or "bionic ear", I'd go here instead.

If Looks Could Kill

I don't know if she was ever on his "short list", but she better be on his "to be watched" one. I cracked up when I saw this:

Saggin' Pants

This was forwarded to me by my cousin:

Saggin Pants

Pass this on to Our Youth, Our Parents, Our Black Men and Women

Letter from a college student

The other day, a friend of mine visited me in the lobby of my dorm just to chat while her laundry was drying. As we were chatting, two young freshmen came by. One of the boys wanted to 'talk' to my friend (as in date). She asked him how old they were, and both of the boys replied 18. My friend and I both laughed hysterically because we are both 22 years old. After my friend left, the young men were still hanging around and one wanted to know how he could gain her interest.

The first thing I told him to do was to pull up his pants! He asked why, and then said he liked saggin' his pants. I told him to come over to my computer and spell the word saggin'. Then I told him to write the word saggin' backwards.

S-A-G-G-I-N

N-I-G-G-A-S

I told him the origin of that look was from centuries ago. It was the intent of slave owners to demoralize the field workers by forbidding them to wear a belt as they worked in the fields or at
Any other rigorous job. In addition, men in prison wore their pants low when they were 'spoken for'. The other reason their pants looked like that was they were not allowed to have belts because prisoners were likely to try to commit suicide. And, saggin' pants prevents you from running.

We as young Black people have to be the ones to effect change. We are dying. The media has made a mockery of the Black American. Even our brothers and sisters from Africa don't take us seriously. Something as simple as pulling up your pants and standing with your head held high could make the biggest difference in the world's perception of us. It is time to do right by ourselves. We need to love and embrace each other. No one is going to do that for us.

It all comes down to perception. What people perceive is what reality to them is. We have to change not only the media's perception of us, but we need to change our perception of ourselves.

Remember all eyes are on you Black Man. All eyes are on you Black Woman. All eyes are on your Black Child. People point the finger at us and expect us to engage in negative and illegal activities, to manifest loud, boisterous behavior, to spend our hard earned money in their stores, buying goods we don't need, or really want. We have allowed not only the media, but the government and the world to portray us as a 'sub-culture.' They have stripped our culture down to the point where the image of Black people is perpetuated as rappers, athletes, drug users, and consumers of junk food, expensive tennis shoes, expensive cars, expensive TVs, cell phones and not investing in homes for our families.
We are so much more!!!!!!!

To all our Black Men: It's time to stand up. There are billions of Black Women who want to do nothing more than worship the ground that you walk on. We are so in love with your potential. We want to have your back, we want to love, support and cherish every ounce of your being. But with that you have to show that you are willing to be the head of our households. You have to prove yourselves worthy of our submission. We need you to be hard working...Not a hustler. We need you to seek higher education, to seek spirituality. We need you to stand! And trust us; we will have your back. We know that it gets hard. We know you get weary. Trust and believe that there is nothing that a Black Man and a Black Woman
Can't handle with GOD on their side.

To all our Black Women: It is also time for you to stand up. It is time for you to stop using our bodies as our primary form of communication. It is time to be that virtuous woman that Proverbs spoke of. You cannot sit by the wayside while our men are dying by the masses. You are the epitome of Black Love. It starts within you. You need to speak with conviction to let not only our Black Men know, but the world, that you are the Mothers of this world. You are so powerful. You are so beautiful. You need to love and embrace every blessing God has given us physically, emotionally and spiritually.

For all our Black Children: We need to love them. We need to teach them. We need to stand up for them. We need to protect them. We need to show them that there are no 'get rich quick' schemes. We need to tell them that they WILL die trying if they submit to a life of crime and deceit. We need to teach our children that no one will love them the way we can. And being a basketball player, a rapper, or a drug dealer is not reality. It's not realistic and only a small percentage of people ever make it as a rapper or professional athlete. We need to teach our children that we can be more than rappers and athletes. We can be the owners of these sports teams. We can be the CEO's of OUR fortune 500 companies. We need to believe in literacy. I am almost certain if we were to look back to the 1930's and 40's, the literacy rates for Black American Children are probably still the same.

Please Keep This Going & Have a wonderful day

'This is the year of empowerment.' God will empower us to accomplish things this year that will be mind blowing'.

Peace
-Free

Just Something Pretty

I dig this website with graphics like these from desicomments.com

Friends, User Submitted | Forward this Picture

Random Thoughts

Some things that have gone through my, uh - the mind of a pack rat while packing to move...

• Why do I have about 20 different kinds of skin lotions and face creams? When did I buy all this stuff?
• Why did I bring so much stuff with me from Alaska???? Why am I trying to re-pack it to take it to the next place?
• Damn! HERE'S that printer cable I was looking for... (This is after I went out and spent money on a new one several months ago.)
• Do I really need to keep the 50 copies I have of my cousin's graduation picture? And how did they end up in my possession in the first place?
• I'm pretty sure that I can toss this five year old bag of ATM receipts. (But I might ought to hang on to the stack of checkbook registers though...)
• Who the hell is Brenda Talinson & why do I have her address on the back of a 1993 Safeway store receipt for tollhouse cookies?
• I'll go ahead and keep this bag of loose clothes buttons. I think I still have the bell-bottom jeans this yellow one goes to...
• Oh, man. Did I really ever think that Leroy Powell was THAT cute? According to this eighth-grade school picture, he looked like the drunkenly conceived love-child of Charles Manson and Eartha Kitt.
• Wonder if those are ibuprofen tablets I have in this tinfoil that was stuck in the corner of my old beat-up vinyl purse?
• Here's that pair of gloves I got for Christmas eight years ago!
• And, oh shit - here's my sister's pair of earrings that I swore I never borrowed... Better pack those down in the bottom of something so she doesn't see them...
• Wonder if I can still cash this $2 rebate check from... 1981??? Wow. I might be able to auction that off on Ebay!
• When's the last time I had a computer with a floppy drive? Guess I won't need this box of disks...

And on it goes. The more I root through my belongings, the more I realize I might need psychiatric help. I'm not a run-of-the-mill packrat. If packrats had a committee, I'd be chairman, treasurer, and H.P.R.I.C.

Today's the day, folks. I'm going to get rid of some of this junk. I'm going right now to pick up some more garbage bags at Walmart... Garbage bags and maybe some of that new body lotion I heard about, and I'm out of razors - definitely should pick up some more of those. Maybe I should make a list. I know I'm out of hair oil - and I'll need some of that where I'm going because of the humidity. Ooh! And maybe a de-humidifier, huh? I mean, that kind of stuff will probably be cheaper here where it's NOT humid.

I'll talk to you guys later. I really need to sit down and make a good shopping list. There's so many things I'm going to need if I want to get organized and get rid of some of this stuff I keep packing around from place to place...

Peace
--Free

Lost in ... WORK

I'm still here, fellow bloggers. Barely tho.

As if I didn't have enough to do what with working, writing, and trying to be engaged... I now have a second (paying) job: as a personal assistant to one of the agents in the office.

I always thought the term "Personal Assistant" sounded so glam. I feel anything but. Half the time, I'm looking (as Natasha over at YBF says) "a hot azz mess." The other half, I'm learning to curl my hair AS I type, fax or take notes.

Know what tho? I'm digging it. I'm making the extra cash I need (the new boss is quite generous - like we females are) and I really like my boss. She's a hard worker& expects the same of me, but she rewards the work better than most men I've worked for.

Believe it or not, I am still managing to get some writing done along the way.

Anyway - just wanted to pop in and say Hi. I'm going to get around to checking out what you guys have going on your blogs this weekend, but I hope you drop in here to let me in on any juicy secrets or gossip!

Peace
--Free

Still no digital camera...but

Because I'm too lazy (again) to post, here are some more pics of the fam @ Christmas 2005 (and of the dreaded Mother's Day 2006 -- BEFORE I got wasted on Saki Bombers...)

This is a mural of one of my brothers. He sold a house to a couple who now apparently think he some jazzy king of real estate. (You have to know MY brother to understand how funny that it)... Cool mural though. I call it being "immuralized." LOL



One of the approximately 20-30 pics we took to get ONE decent one of the siblings...

And then -- um, Mother's Day before I tried to drink myself to death. (That's me with the one of the sis-in-laws on the right end. I pretty much ruined that little black dress...

That's me and one s-i-l on the right end, a good, good friend (and fellow Alaskan) in the middle -- and y'all know I'm talking about the only other Black chick...
Another s-i-l on the left end, standing next to the little lush who started me on them damn Saki Bombers.

And once again... Messed up a pic:

And ***drumroll please***
the ONE halfway decent sib pics: I give y'all the Conway Crew...



Thanks to Supa, I cropped some of the ashy ankle angles! LOL

All righty. Now I just have to take some updated photos. Maybe I'll do "before'n after" pics of my about-to-be-cut hair.... Yeah. I'm still on that kick.

Gospel Song

I'm gonna go to hell for laughing at this baby, but this is funny. (My aunt says this is why some people should just usher.) All I want to know is: where is this child's mama? Did his daddy send this in to AFV?

Fearless. Peerless. Free.

Since I am now 45 years old -- Grown & Sexy, as Supa would say -- I resolve to live life a little fuller from the here on out. Not by making major life changes (I'm not good at major or changes), but by taking tastier bite-sized pieces of being me.

I know y'all noticed my new motto: Fearless. Peerless. Free. So, I resolve to:

Smile more.
Life is so very beautiful in all the happy & sad, good & bad colors it comes in. Smiling will be my constant and consistent Thank You to God for it all.

Flirt more.
Well, okay -- I'm already a huge flirt, but going to try to keep that up.

Dance more.
Not so long ago, I was my own private dancer. I danced around the house, bopped my head while I drove, and choreographed moves for every daily chore and tribulation. I'm not sure when I stopped feeling the music so deeply, but I'm convinced it was around the time I first started trying to be more "adult."

Buy more upper-body lingerie.
It's official folks: Thanks to my Victoria's Secret gift certificate, your girl Free now owns a bra. Last time I owned anything with cups and straps was when I was getting married and Mama just didn't believe I should be bra-less until after the wedding. Now, I have to tell you, it was a little embarrassing getting fitted to find out that I'm a 36B. After she finished snickering, my well-endowed niece taught me the ABC's of chesticles: A= Attempt, B=Bless your heart, C= Complete, and D=Damnnnnn!

That's cool, tho. My little shit looks good propped up here. Hell -- I damn near have cleavage. Plus, I have my VS wings now (They came with a credit card) LOL.

Practice my autograph.
I'ma need a cool Hancock for when my stuff hits Bestseller status. (Yeah, all right, I know, I know -- it's got to hit published status first!)

Quit cussing so fucking much.

Write erotica.
(Under a pen name, tho.) I had to cut a good fourteen pages out of "Enough" because it's supposed to be romance and not porn. That mess was good, y'all -- too good to shred. Plus, I need the money to support my new Bath & Body/Victoria's Secret habit... (Did you guys know the companies are related? Yep.)

Smoke at least one joint.
Never have & never regretted it, but I want to see what it does for my creative processes.

Quit threatening to take time off from blogging.
First of all, I never follow through. Matter of fact, I usually get freaking prolific two seconds after I make the vow. Second of all, my blogs are like steam vents on a tea kettle. I need to let off some of my thoughts here so that the good ones don't boil over before I get them onto paper.

Write poetry.
I love poetry and I have tried my hand at it, but I really suck. Too damn bad, tho. I'ma torture the hell out y'all when I start posting verse on this blog!

So. Sound good? I think so. Of course, I have the attention span of an embryo & I'll probably forget half these resolutions before I sign off.

Peace,
--Free

Tags:


birthdays
resolutions
life

Birthday Re-cap

Forgive any bad writing/spelling/etc. I'm going to whip through this post fast.

Surprisingly, I had a wonderful birthday. Things started on Thursday -- the day before the big day -- and haven't completely finished. I don't think I'm going to win any awards for having the most exciting birthday, but I do know I've had one of the most touching and close-to-my-family days ever.

First off, let me say that I had a little bit of an interesting start to my week. I won't go into details, but I'll say that there was an unpleasant "incident." (A friend called me up when he heard & teased the hell out of me: "Girl... You went all Stella and then dumped your 'groove' and now he wanting to whoop yo ass!!!" That mess was funny & still cracks me up.) After that, I expected to have a lousy week, but, instead, things got much better. Sometimes, there's nowhere for shit to go but uphill.

I had put in a while back to take Friday off work. The older I get, the less I dig the silliness some people spring on a birthday celebrant. For years, I'd take a Valium, slap a phony smile on my face, and march in to the office to deal with all the joke gifts and cards that were going to be decorating my desk. As a supervisor, I had a crew of employees who considered it their mission in life to outdo each other in the gag-the-supe category. (This was probably passive-aggressive payback for anything I'd done on their reviews or pay-raises...) The hi-jinks got so out of hand one year that I remember a girlfriend having to take me out IMMEDIATELY after work for drinks to stave off the onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

How different it is to be working for and with family. Not just my blood relatives, but with people who feel more connected than your average group of employees. Of course, my taking Friday didn't deter these folks. They just upped the love by one day. No sneaky/questionable gag gifts this time. Just a lot of thoughtful, sweet and loving offerings to celebrate my special day.

Of course, it's not a birthday at work without decorating the birthday girl's office. I walked in to see a huge bouquet of balloons and streamers. My gifts were stacked on the desk (covering the work that was already piling up!) and the hugs that morning were a little tighter and longer than usual. There were genuine wishes of "Happy Birthday," lots of God-bless-you's, and one whispered sentiment ("I'm so glad God brought you here to Arizona & into our lives") that almost made me bawl like a mother of the bride. Hugging your brother/boss feels different when his eyes get a little bit damp & he has to play it off by joking that, as his baby sis, I must now lie about my age so that he doesn't feel too old! Then, of course, I have to flirt with all the agents who dig my new outfit (gift from my big sis who knows to throw in the silver jewelry for accessories.)

The group of us spent half and hour chatting and relaxing while I have my pic taken as I read cards and open gifts before we settle down to work. We had to because even the clients were starting to get their party on with us!

That would have been more than enough for me, but:

Lunchtime.

Lunch? I never take lunch. I work less than 8 hours, so I usually buzz right through with just coffee and one of the little snacks we all share during the day. This day, though, was special, so a little before noon, I'm told to grab my purse and gifts because we're shutting down shop for a while and all heading to one of my favorite places (yes, folks, I was about to have me some of that famous bread pudding).

We get to Famous Dave's and my nieces/nephews/friends/family are all there. I had ribs (of course) and the pudding (of course -- and mine came with ONE spoon... No sharing for the birthday girl, tho I did take back a tiny bit for the receptionist who was left behind to hold down shop), and we all made way too much noise while we enjoyed each other's company. The folks as FD's must think birthday calories don't count since they gave me a "Birthday Sundae." Are you kidding me? I donated that one to the kids.

Back to work (work? I think I actually touched three sheets of paper and answered one phone call) and still feeling good. I feel a whole lot better when my brother tells me I don't have to be back in to work until Wednesday -- AND my days off are going to be (gasp!) paid. As Snoop says: "Hell yeah!"

When I got home, I was exahusted. Bread pudding is like a freaking sedative! Throw in some of this Arizona heat and I'm like Jeff Foxworthy after great sex: "You may as well put up crime tape, folks" 'cause I'm out for hours!

I laid across the bed to read through birthday cards again, and... SLEPT from about six-thirty until eleven at night. Damn. This old-age crap kicks in immediately. LOL

I get up and have a cleaning fit. Twelve oh one. I'm officially 45. That's 4 tens and 5 singles. Forty-freaking-five. Just five years from a half century... Dag.

I take down the frame with Daddy's picture and give him a kiss. God, I miss him so much.

I go in the other room and talk to my mother for a minute. I tell her how thankful and joyous and scared and deliciously excited about the future I am. I tell her how much I love and miss her and wish she was here whenever I get anxious about being older and having to live this life of mine on my own. "Oh, god, Mama. Tell me what to do." (And, yeah, I know, it's just her ashes in a box, but her heart's somewhere hearing me when I have these conversations with her.)

One o'clock in the morning & I'm vacuuming the living room, dusting, and making sure the new curtains in the living room are hanging juuu-st right... Two o'clock & this house is clean. Still wired up, I get some writing done. No, not just some -- A LOT.

Later in the day, when normal people are just making it in to work, I'm still writing. My hands are flying over the paper and I'm wearing pens into a leaky mess. I'm like AliceWalkerStephenKingSalinger on speed. The ideas are flowing, bits and pieces of dialogue that have been sneak-attacking some hidden part of my brain now come out, come together and just work... Beautiful. Then my hands cramp up and I've got to take a break and let my fingers rest and my mind idle down a bit. I think I can literally feel the motor in my head hummmmm with relief.

Around nine-thirty, my cell starts ringing my new ring tone (EW&F, of course, with "That's the Way of the World.")

First call: SWV & En Vogue serenading me with the Birthday song. (O.K., so it's really just my sis-in-law and the other ladies from the office. They make jokes: I have to get in there now because the office is just falling apart without me... ha. ha. ha. ha... And: When I come back to work Wednesday, don't bother looking for the chocolate I hid in the back of the fridge because they had to, uh, throw it out. Yeah, that's it, it was contaminated and went bad...ba-dump-bump... And: we have eleven months to find Keanu Reeves because I simply must get laid by by him before next year's birthday. We've got plans outlined.) Finally, they remind me of our date for a limo cruise and drinks. Like the last time we did this I didn't almost end up in the hospital for alcohol poisoning!

Second call: Brother # 2 telling me it's all right to be 45 when you look this good. Damn. Good present, bro. Better than the Nordstrom certificate -- not that I'm giving it back or anything. LOL.

Twenty minutes later, another call, then another, then another. Cool. Just a lot of well-wishes and "I love you's" from the family -- blood-related and otherwise. From Anchorage, Fairbanks, Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Big Spring, Hope, Great Britain, Scottsdale, Mobile, Seattle... They're just wearing my Earth, Wind and Fire out.

Still later, the flowers (one delivery from a "secret admirer"... How "secret" since he obviously knows my favorites are Red Anthurium... hmmmmm)...

...more gifts (I don't have to tell you that one of them is a Victoria's Secret gift card)...

...more "Love You's" -- which are my favorites. I'm so senti-sappy-mental. Or just plain mental!

Now -- having a secret admirer is interesting, but it kind of fucks with my wild-assed imagination -- you know: is it someone I'll dig or someone I'll **shudder** not dig, or.... OMG -- is it, could it be... TIM??? (You see now why I have to keep my mind off the thought until I know more. Just stresses my head all out.)

Moving on.

Because the agent has written me back ("Everything" is still "under consideration"), and because I'm on a writing roll, and because I tend to go Cancer-Hermit-Crab-like when I get on a roll, I postpone the dinner and drink invites. Because everyone is family -- or love me for other reasons -- they all understand and don't push me. (Plus, them neegras know they all trying to plan their Fourth.) So, I have dinner and drink plans scheduled into the end of week after next. The one I'm looking most forward to is with Edith -- the only woman I know who can say "Fuck you, motherfucker" and make it sound as classy as a queen ordering up tea and scones. (She's funny and sweet and cracks me up & is also so unnaturally beautiful that I feel like the invisible woman when we're together.... Have men tripping over my feet to get to her...) Also, I suspect I have a little "Bougey" in me because I'm looking forward to my limo ride. I don't know why I love that so much... Bougey. Just freaking broke-ass bougey.

So, the celebrations will go on.

Today -- I'm going to take a writing break later so I can hit Victoria's Secret(sale alert!!!) and Bath & Body to scoop my birthday booty. Best of all: I have four whole & glorious days to WRITE. My goal is to finish the first draft of "Enough." (We'll see. It's just a goal, not a paying contract with the Devil.)

Thanks for all the sweet wishes y'all sent my way here and via email. Love it.

Peace
--Free

Thoughts I can't get out of my head:
"OMG! Is my secret admirer Tim?
OMG, OMG, OMG... Tim?"

Note to Supa & anybody else who's lost stuff on Blogger:
"Try Blogger for (Microsoft) Word. Cool tool. My thoughts never leave home without it."

Song:
Stevie Wonder: "Do I Do"

Laziness Factor: HIGH
I'm posting this on My Space & Blogger