Sometimes I Wonder ...

The Emmys Edition …

• Who in the hell told Laurence Fishburne it would be a good idea to wear that god-awful blazer?


• Why did they get Josh Groban to sing that bi-polar, schizophrenic medley of TV theme songs?


• Wouldn’t it have worked better with the cast of American Idol?

• What was with the opening by the reality hosts?


• Wouldn’t it have been better if Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Steve Carell hosted?



• Am I the only one who wishes Tina Fey would have accepted one of her awards as Sarah Palin?



• How come the only black person I saw on stage accepting an award was Glynn Turman?



• Can we please hurry up and get some quality shows with minorities in them on television please?

OK, now, I’ve heard it all.

No, for real, I have. This morning, I received an e-mail from a co-worker that says that Bishop Thomas Weeks is looking for love on the World Wide Web.
According to EurWeb.com, Weeks launched his online search via his web site. Weeks has posted a video to his web site asking what kind of advice his followers and fans would give him about his third wife.
"I'm sure there are some of you that would like to just share your personal heartfelt [thoughts] of what you would say to either Mrs. Weeks in the future, or to myself about Mrs. Weeks."
***ROTFLMAO***
In case you all forgot, Weeks is the former husband of Prophetess Juanita Bynum, a gospel singer and televangelist. Critics and church folk alike have accused Bynum of exploiting this incident of domestic violence for financial gain. I’m not going to address that because if she is, she won’t prosper.
I blogged about this incident a little over a year ago when it happened. Since then, Weeks pleaded guilty to attacking Bynum in the parking lot of Renaissance Concourse Hotel and has been sentenced to three years probation, 200 hours of community service and anger management. The official charge was aggravated assault.
Fast forward to last Friday, the story surfaced that he’s been posting these webisodes in search of his next wife.
What’s even more laughable than that, there are a few takers. I’m not sure how many, but I hope they fit his criteria of being “someone who can bear children, is sensual and can't be ugly.”
Now, I have no words for him, but for the next Mrs. Weeks, whoever this poor woman may be, take a few kick boxing classes. Hell, take kickboxing, Karate, Tae Kwon Do and some good ol’ fashioned self-defense classes. I say that because the man does have a track record of beating a woman down and being verbally abusive.
Around the time all of this came out, former secretaries and other women in the congregation came forward saying he’d been verbally abusive and we all know that’s how it starts.
At any rate, I hope everything works out for him and his new punching bag, I mean, wife.

I'm Gettin' Grown ...

I got a phone call from a high school boyfriend who told me that it is time to start locating our classmates for our 10-year reunion. I said, "dayum, has it been that long already?"
Apparently it has. After that phone call, I started thinking back, reminiscing, if you will. We graduated from Fairmont High School May 26, 2000. And to me, that doesn't seem that long ago. I just realized, I now fit into that 26 to 30 age bracket and that is a trip to me.
Those four years of high school were filled with games, clubs, JROTC drill meets and a whole lot of other activities.
I could have been labeled as somewhat of an overachiever while in high school. I had decent grades, mostly A's and B's. I played varsity basketball for three years, threw shot and discus on the track team, played in the marching band for all four years, concert band for three years. I was also one of the the top cadets in JROTC, I was the drill team commander for two years, participated in several clubs and like most southern teens, I was heavily involved at church.
I graduated from high school with honors and headed off to Aggie Land, that's N.C. A&T for those of you who don't know, and kyle. I swear, all of that feels like just yesterday, then again, it feels like it was decades ago. I don't know about you guys, but my life has changed drastically since high school.
Since then, I've graduated from college, changed jobs and addresses about four times. I've been in more weddings and bought more ugly dresses than I care to remember and a lot of my friends are now parents.
The thing that has changed most in my life is probably the fact that my priorities have changed. While I still don't have the husband and family to worry about I do have to take care of myself.
When I was 18, I was into everything pop culture and entertainment. I was never the club type chick but I could tell you any and everything about whatever artist was hot and where they were going to be. Shoot, back then, if I was having a cash flow problem, I would just call my daddy.
Now, I can't tell you anything about anybody who is hot right now. All I know about commercial radio is it sounds like noise and Plies and Lil' Wayne are dominating the airwaves. And now, if I am running low on cash, I just gotta wait until pay day.
Man, life was sweet! Why the hell did I have to grow up? And why has it been so long since I was a kid?
I feel like I just moved out of my parents house and like I just graduated. I swear ya'll, I have no idea where the last eight years of my life have gone.
I'll be around 27 or 28 when my classmates decide to gather and lie about what we've been doing with our lives. That means I am knocking on the door to 30 and I'm not that happy about it.
While I am looking forward to my 30s, there's still so much I haven't done, so many goals I have yet to accomplish. I gotta get crackin'!
Oh well, here's a song for the road.
"... la la la la laaaaaa, la la la la la laaaaaaa ..."

And they're off ...

... gas prices have again made the trek upward again this weekend.
I gassed up my car on Thursday night for $3.59/gallon and packed my clothes in anticipation of driving down to the Queen City (Charlotte, NC) to see my best friend, my goddaughter and my brand new godson this weekend.
I got up Friday, finished up my stories for the week and jumped on the highway only to find that gas had gone up as much as a dollar in some places overnight. To add injury to insult, some gas stations were limiting drivers to only 10 gallons.
What does that have to do with me since my tank was already full, you may ask? Well, I could get down there, but getting back would be a different story. I could go, but I would run the risk of spending $50 to $60 to fill my tank when I got back and another $40 when I got home for the week. I don't know about ya'll but I don't have it like that.
Long story short, I opted not to head to the QC and went to the movies to see "Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys." And I must say to all of you I was presently surprised. Honestly, I don't know what I expected, but it was a good film. Trust me.

OK, first of all, I have to give Sanaa Lathan her props. Yea, yea, I know she's pretty and everything but up until now, she's always taken on the same type of role. The girl next door, love starved pretty girl who doesn't know how pretty she is type of role. But she really stretched herself for this one.
I must say, I had to sort of deprogram myself to realize that this was only a character that she was playing. With all due respect to Ms. Lathan, she plays a great bitch.
The film also stars two of my favorite actresses Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard. For the first 15 minutes of the movie, I could not get "Misery" and "Crooklyn" out of my head. After that, it was a trip.
Tyler Perry pulled a Spike Lee and cast himself in the movie, but it worked. The only thing that didn't work was that god-awful wig he wore.
Don't get me wrong, there was the overly clueless character who everybody wanted to choke via Rockmond Dunbar. And my girl, Taraji P. Henson. She is so my favorite "new" actress. I say new because she hasn't been around that long, but I just like her. She's picked a lot of different type of characters and she's convinced me as all of them.
I am not going to spoil it for you but I will tell you that it is certainly an entertaining movie and I am proud of Perry. He did his thing on this one. Long story short, go see it. For real, don't bootleg it either, go to the movies, buy some popcorn and mix in some peanut M&Ms and drink a Sprite.
Go on, you owe it to yourself.

I've been awarded ...

... the Honest Blogger Award. Thank you, thank you! Please, no pictures.
It was just an honor to be nominated, right?
I'd like to thank all my regular readers and those of you who comment. It does my heart good to know that you guys will actually pay attention to my rants and raves when my friends and family seem to think I have too much time on my hands.
The Pretty Circle Drawer aka PCD awarded me for my blogs about serious, thought-provoking issues and my "Sometimes I Wonder ..." posts.
The rules are as follows:

1. When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back

2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.

3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Honest Weblog’

4. Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).
5. And then we pass it on!

PCD added a "Things About Me" part of this so here are somethings about me that you probably don't know.

1. I love football. My brothers and I watch games together on Sundays and Mondays whether we're in the same place or not. If our teams are playing each other we call after each other on an average of every six plays.

2. I am an aspiring screenwriter. I've written several shorts and have been working on my first feature for about a year.

3. I am convinced that I have ADD because I can't stick with one thing for any extnded period of time.

4. Ice cream is my most favorite thing in the world, well, not my most favorite, but it's a close second. ;-)

5. I'm a big ole' kid. When I get bored, I play video games, watch cartoons or color. I have several coloring books and crayons all over the house.

6. I'm think I'm addicted to those teenie-bopper movies starring the white kid stars like "What A Girl Wants" "Bring It On" the "American Pie" series.

7. I've noticed that when I'm in a foul mood, everything and I mean everything pisses me off. From a dumb ass plot in a movie to the way people chew when they're around me. I get irritated by everything.

8. I think I spend too much time online everyday. I'm always reading somebody's blog or checking my daily round up of news, entertainment and gossip sites.

9. I am constantly plotting my next move.

10. I'm desperately in need of motivation to get active. I'm soooooo out of shape it's not even funny.

Now, just like PCD, I'm going to nominate Eb the Celeb because she is constantly switching up her Renaissance Black Woman blog to keep it looking fresh and new and because she's gonna give all the news and her opinions straight with no chaser.


I am also nominating 12kyle because he gives me comic relief during my stressful days at work. He's also been known to get me just a lil' P.O.'d when he tries to bash my Aggies. Because I know that he doesn't know any better, I will give him a pass and embrace him with that HBCU love, even though I plan to break him down in the Fantasy League.
I am also nominating TravelDiva from Chicas In the City. She is one of the main sources of comic relief during the chaos that is my work day. And she has the Joker of the Week contest which is her way (and ours) of sticking it to the tomfoolery offenders of the week.

Sometimes I Wonder ...

*Why men deem it necessary to periodically muse about why we're not "used to" menstrual cramps?

* If I'll ever get my ultimate wish of every man having to go through the first day of a woman's cycle? That would be awesome!

* Who is that dude in the Free Credit Report.com commercials?

* Have you guys seen "Then Came Six" on Discovery Health?

* Wouldn't you lose your minds with six 5-year-olds in the house?

* Why is it so easy to slip back into watching soap operas?

* How come they all sleep with each other and marry each other two or three times over?

* Who's going to see "The Family That Preys" this weekend?

* Am I the only one who is tired of chicken?

* Will I grow feathers and cluck if I don't eat something other than poultry?

* Why is looking for a job a full-time job?

Am I wrong?

For the last three months, the national news has been inundated with reports about Caylee Marie Anthony, a missing 3-year-old from Central Florida.
According to a timeline from a Central Florida television news station, Caylee went missing in June. Apparently, her mother, Casey, allegedly left her with a babysitter, repeatedly, while she went to work. After her mother's parents hadn't seen the child in a while, they made her go to the authorities.
After being caught in several lies about who she'd left the child with and where she worked, Casey Anthony was arrested. They did one of those Horatio-CSI mock ups on her car and evidence of human decomposition was found. She was charged with child neglect and held under a half million-dollar bond.
Long story short, she got out of jail and ended up having to go back on unrelated charges. She's still there and the child is still missing. Authorities now believe that she is dead and have even called in the help of a search and recovery team, not search and rescue.
With all that said, I have to say that I am tired of hearing about this case. Don't get me wrong, I wish they would find her alive and I don't wish harm on anybody's kids, but I sort of believe if this were a black child or any other child of color or a kid that people deem as "not cute," this case would not have gotten this much coverage.
Think I'm lying, take a few minutes to surf the site for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and tell me that all these kids are getting the same treatment as Caylee.According to that site, more than 2,000 are reported missing every day. Granted a lot of kids, mostly pre-teens and teens, run away, but the majority of the younger kids are snatched - usually by somebody they know.
Regardless of how they get missing, they all need an advocate and dare I say, some air time. Call me cruel, call me crazy, but I know for a fact that kids and women of color who go missing do not get the same coverage or air time or whatever and that is sad.
So, while they've formed a massive search team and are looking for this possibly deceased child, why not dedicate just some of that man power to looking for some of those kids whose pictures aren't being flashed on the 6 o'clock news and the 11 o'clock news and Nancy Grace.
Here are only four of the kids who went missing in North Carolina over the last year. I encourage you to look at their pictures and be on the look out. They were all abducted by a family member who is believed to have taken them out of state.

I also encourage you to check the site and look up kids who have gone missing in your state. Do your part, I know I'm doing mine.

Sometimes I Wonder ...

Whatever happened to background dancers for rappers?

When did MCs make the transition to "Lil'" people?

When did "Lil'" people become "young"?

Will "Old" be the new rapper prefix?

If so, wasn't Ol' Dirty Bastard ahead of his time?

Is it just me or is it awesome that football season starts this weekend? Go Panthers!!!

Am I the only one who's been quoting Bernie Mac more than normal since he passed?

How come black folks judge whether or not somebody can sing based on how clearly they scream? Think Yolanda Adams and Patti LaBelle

Am I the only one who wants to snatch a knot in those kids on "Supernanny?"

Isn't it great to have TravelDiva back? And congrats to her on her engagement!

Is it just me or is that 10 Million Pound Challenge commercial funny as crap where the dude said "Because I'm tired of my thighs rubbing together."

How do I quit this Quarterlife Crisis crap and get on with my life?