Happy Easter Day!

 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
--John 3:16

Thank you God,   for loving me so much that You gave Your Son for me.

If there's a cure for this, I don't want it

Happy Birthday,   Diana Ross



Song in my head

Good Morning

Just smile and walk away

When some relationships end before it gets started, don't fret. I'd like to think it's God's way of telling you that He doesn't want you to waste your time on someone who won't add  any value to your life any more than you do.

So, just smile and walk away. You might even want to say thank you.

The Light

You're out of the woods 
You're out of the dark  
You're out of the night 
 Step into the sun  
Step into the light 
March up to the gate and bid it open, open...

Friday Flashback

A rude society

I think some of us have lost the ability to think about what we’re doing. We think  ‘oh we want that’  and we just go for it without thinking what the hell am I doing? We've become a rude society.

Present company excluded.

LOL

Halle, Salli, Janet, and Heights

sometimes
you
do
things

you         
think
you'd
never
do.

                       but
                       there
                       are                       
                       some
                       things
                       I'm
                       sure
                       I'll
                       never
                       do.

not even if Janet Jackson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield (if she was single), or Halle Berry asked me. 

(to be honest, I just needed an excuse to post pics of these three woman)

Listening to

Get what you need and move on

       Lately I've been wondering if alot of people's worlds would implode if for once, I acted like them and said no to everything and anything they asked me to do, and acted with indifference, acting as if there was no such thing as a telephone or computer, or other form of communication.

Unless I needed something. You know- like everyone else.

For love

building.

planting.

praying.

if When

                    if there's a will there's a way. I have the will, so a way will come.

Some Day

 a life filled with love. laughter. passion. kids.

                                & everything good in between

isn't that what i promised you?

Is it you?

On tonight's episode of  Celebrity Apprentice, Brande  referred to Omarosa as someone who sucks the energy out of people. Then she asks "what do you call someone who sucks the energy out of people?

A succubus."

Actually according to Wikipedia:  In folklore traced back to medieval legend, a succubus is a female demon or supernatural entity that appears in dreams, who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual intercourse. The male counterpart is the incubus. Religious traditions hold that repeated intercourse with a succubus may result in the deterioration of health or even death. 
In modern fictional representations, a succubus may or may not appear in dreams and is often depicted as a highly attractive seductress or enchantress; whereas, in the past, succubi were generally depicted as frightening and demonic.

 


Do you have a succubus in your life, or are you the succubus?

The T word

That awkward moment when you check to see if your phone is working to see if favors you've been asked to do have been received or acknowledged, and the only calls you get are from telemarketers or other people needing a favor who have no problem calling or texting.

The fastest way

Sometimes the fastest way to get somewhere is to stand still.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Note to self

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
--Marian Wright Edelman


Baby Steps

No matter how big or small your goals are, the key seems to be consistent determination to achieve them.
Once you've figured out your purpose in life, set aside some time every single day to focus on it. Taking baby steps is better than taking no steps at all! Sometimes, you may have only 10 minutes to work towards your goal. Instead of being discouraged by the lack of time, make the best of it. If you add up the work produced over a year, you'll see that true progress has been made.
I take baby steps everyday


Have you  achieved any goals by implementing baby steps?

Listening to

Something Haki R Madhubuti might say

          

              ...and one day you  will find the one who will  turn your squares into circles.

Damn Damn Damn- Esther Rolle is probably rolling over in her grave.

Dyn-o-mite? Sony Pictures Is Developing A Feature Film Based On 'Good Times'

 

 Sony Pictures and producer Scott Rudin will turn the groundbreaking ’70s sitcom Good Times into a feature film. They’ve set a writer, Phil Johnston, whose most recent credits include Wreck-It Ralph and Cedar Rapids. Rudin will produce the family comedy with Eli Bush.

my commentary...

In all seriousness, however this turns out will depend on the approach the studio and producer take. Will it be a straight comedy, more of a drama, or a mixture of the two - a dramedy? Since it'll be set in the 60s, there'll be plenty of socially and politically-relevant material to mine. What will the story be exactly? Will all the characters from the TV series feature in the film? Questions, questions, questions...

So, let's see how the filmmakers plan to really tackle this, because it could go down any number of paths. For example, it could just be a straight drama with some comedic elements about a working class black family growing up in the 1960s, and that forms the base for whatever narrative they think up to build upon it, and the title Good Times, may be the only thing that it has in common with the TV series, assuming they opt to keep the same title.

But really, there are so many other stories to be told about the black experience in this country (many that aren't remakes of old TV series), that are set in the present-day (if you look at Hollywood studio output, you'd think there are so few contemporary stories about black people worth telling) that I don't quite get why this is the one that Sony and Scott Rudin chose. I'd love to chat with Rudin and get into his head about this, because I'm really curious as to what inspired him to want to tackle this particular TV show.

Needless to say, the producer and screenwriter are both white, and we can probably guess that the director will likely be white as well. I'll leave it to you guys to suggest actors for the various parts as casting will be everything. 

Might I make a suggestion? Please don't consider Zoe Saldana for the role of Florida Evans. Having her play Florida makes about as much sense as having her play Nina Simone. Oh, and by the way, there is only one Thelma.

Might I make another suggestion? Leave Good Times alone.

 

 

 

 

That Awkward moment.

 when you realize you can't say no to your family and friends and they can't say yes to you.

justsayin

I don't have to wonder, or ask my God daughter if she liked the dress I bought for her for her birthday. My brother called and said she insisted on wearing it this evening when her mother took her to see a musical.  That was all I needed to hear. 
My Goddaughter's mother told me yesterday that my Goddaughter is so lucky to have such a wonderful Godfather.   I told her that I feel honored to have the title, and that it seriously.

I take all my titles seriously.
friend.
son.
father.
underwriter.
brother.
uncle.


I wish everyone took their titles seriously.

justsayin,

First Lady Michelle Obama's Vogue Cover

After weeks of speculating (and speculating), the first lady's second cover for the fashion glossy has arrived -- and it's absolutely stunning. As expected, photographer Annie Leibovitz shot Michelle, who wore a blue and purple Reed Krakoff sheath plucked straight from her very own closet. The green background, the cool color palette and the choice to wear Reed Krakoff definitely reminded us of FLOTUS' official portrait. Vogue's fashion editor Tonne Goodman led the team styling Mrs. O and the president, who appears in a photo inside the mag with the first lady. Also in the editorial? A third shot of Michelle wearing an elegant Michael Kors ball skirt and sweater. To accompany the shoot, the first couple was interviewed by Jonathan Van Meter, discussing parenting, marriage and their duties while presiding in the White House. Of course, since this is Vogue, they also talked fashion. “If you’re comfortable in your clothes it’s easy to connect with people and make them feel comfortable as well,” Michelle said. FLOTUS certainly looks comfortable on her new Vogue cover, which includes her three second term signatures: bangs, Reed Krakoff, and, of course, her amazingly toned arms. Last time she covered the style bible, Michelle's designer of choice was Jason Wu -- with another Reed Krakoff pick this time around, it's clear we've entered a new era of FLOTUS fashion. Look out for the April issue of Vogue on newsstands in the next couple of weeks. --courtesy, Huffington Post

everyone

everyone comes with baggage.  find someone who lives you enough to help you unpack.

Friday Flashback

Don't wait up

There are things I thought I needed  to make me happy but I've had to become versatile. Realizing that those things might never come,  I had to make readjustments, to be happy with-to make do with what exists in my presence.

The way love goes

  

                  I have  discovered that I get comfortable very easily in relationships; just when I think enough time has passed and the communication and connection is consistent and habitual to the point where I feel I'm on the inside looking out-I find that I'm still on the outside looking in.

Past due

If It Doesn’t Nourish Your Soul Get Rid of It.

                   --Dr. Sherrie Campbell, Ph.D.

 Are you holding on to things ( or relationships) beyond  the expiration date?

I can do it

I can be happy.  

That's it.

The latest

Avocado Chocolate Chip.

 

That's right! Avocado in a cake.  I thought I was being original with the combination until I googled avocado and chocolate and saw it's been done many times before. When a friend from Brazil told me that she used to slice avocados and dip them in sugar and sprinkle cinnamon on them and their kids would have them for dessert, and how she would have avocados disguised as chocolate pudding- I knew I was on to something. 

 Avocados have a faint flavor, so I added a half a cup of melted white chocolate chips to the batter along with a cup of dark chocolate chips. You wouldn't know avocados were even in it.   Because avocados are creamy and fatty, I only had to use about 2 tablespoons of  vegetable oil instead of the half a cup to three- quarter cups of oil  I normally use for my cakes. It was really nice and flavorful and moist.  The Sales department here agreed. The cake was gone in about an hour and I've received separate cake orders.

is it friday yet?

I'm just doing what I can

Spiraling up

Over the weekend I received a letter from an adoption specialist at the agency that received my records after the adoption agency that represented me had closed down: she seems excited about helping me discover my biological background. I called today and left a voicemail. I'm hoping that by helping me "discover my biological background", it means she will help me locate the woman who brought me into this world, my siblings ( I discovered I have an older sibling, don't know if it's a brother or sister), and perhaps my father. Hopefully I am one step closer, in this spiral, to discovering who I am.  If New York State didn't have sealed records laws, and if my mom wasn't so scared I'd not love her any more, I would have found out when I discovered I was adopted.

Wherever, whatever

"Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” 
                - Rumi

The Useless Tree

I'm paraphrasing from a story a friend told me over the weekend:

There once a huge tree with limbs so twisted and gnarled that it could not be used for lumber. Its bark emitted a pungent sap that would not dry enough to use the tree for firewood. A woodcutter spoke with a man named Chuang-Tzu about it. "This is the ugliest tree I have ever seen! It is worthless for any purpose." 
Chuang Tzu agreed. "The virtue of this tree is in its worthlessness. By being unusable for any human purpose, it is free to be a tree."

 What is this an analogy for?

Note to self

Word

Dare to be powerful

When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
- Audre Lorde

Just a thought

You can be as kind, as receptive, as agreeable, as supportive, and as nice as you can be, but if someone doesn't like you based on something you can't change, then that's their problem. Don't make it your problem.
-me