Sometimes I wonder ...

... this will probably be a regular post. How regular, I don't know. But I will say that it is inspired by 12kyle even though he's an Aggie Hater.
This is a series of random thoughts I've had over the past few weeks since I've given up TV that my friends and family members refuse to listen to so I guess I'll subject you, my audience, to these thoughts. Brace yourselves.
Sometimes I wonder:

If

- I am the only sane person left in this universe. I find it sad when I'm always the one making the most sense in a conversation.

- we will ever truly get over our hang ups and stigmas long enough make this a better place for the generation behind us.

When

- media outlets will stop being fixated on celebrities and their business. I don't care that Angelina Jolie had her babies.

- the maintenance people at my apartment complex will fix something right the first time and not have me burning up in the middle of the night because of a broken air conditioner.

Why

- people lick their fingers to separate papers and plastic bags. Do I look like I want to come in contact with the germs from your dirty a-- mouth?

- people cough into their hands and offer it to you to shake when they greet you or touch something that you have to touch. I guess you automatically assume that I want in my body what ever you're trying to force out by coughing.

- old people get on major interstates and drive 40 mph in the middle lane. I know 40 is the minimum you can go on the highway but I think they mean for them to stay in the right lane.

- do people continue to hire ghetto a-- secretaries. The secretary in my office takes a series of personal phone calls all day long, sometimes babysits her granddaughter at work and gets upset when she has to do some real work. She's trying to talk to a 2-year-old on the phone now.

- the actual lyrics to The Temptations "The Way You Do the Things You Do" are so corny. Have you ever really listened to them? "As pretty as you are, you know you coulda been a flower, if good looks were a minute, you know that you could be an hour ..." WTH?

- if all these people are looking for love online, why don't they have a weekend-long singles conference and hook up in person? It seems like that would make more sense than meeting somebody online and having these in-depth convos via instant messenger and you meet them and discover their picture is 20 years old.

- corporate America deems it necessary to stick their employees in cubicles. Isn't navigating through these cube farms similar to sending hamsters through a maze?

*** Addendum ***
I'm also wondering why it seems like Miss America can't walk in heels?

New readers ...

Welcome!!! I hope you all will stop by periodically and not just look around, feel free to engage in the on-going conversation that is Difference of Opinion.
With that said, can I just say that I love the Real Time Live traffic feed component in the right rail?
I am always curious about the folks who come to read and this gives me the city you're from and how you got here. While some of you have been coming to my spot via Eb, 12kyle and PCD's spots, thank ya'll for the extra traffic, it has come to my attention that a lot of folks are coming through Google searches.
The craziest sounding Google search is "Will Smith + down low" and you're getting directed to a December post I did about Mr. Smith, Young Joc and R. Kelly. I'm sure this post is so not what you guys are looking for but I hope you'll stick around anyway.

Let me just say that I have no knowledge of Mr. Smith now or ever being on the down low. I certainly don't have any knowledge of him engaging in such acts with Duane Martin. In fact, up until I started seeing some of these Google searches, I hadn't heard any of this - at all.
How come every time black men are friends or cool with each other or get photographed in a "brotha man embrace" they have to be dating? That irks my soul.
Granted, I heard that Will and Jada and Duane and Tisha were into some freaky -ish, but I didn't buy into it. Folks are always going to gossip about celebrity couples and black celebrity couples especially. Truth be told, folks have been questioning The Fresh Prince's sexuality since "Six Degrees of Separation" and Jada has always been a lil' on the tomboy side.
Either way, I think it's their business and they can tell, or not, if they want to. If the Smiths are swinging and it's keeping their marriage together, more power to them. If the Martins are swinging and it's keeping their marriage together, more power to them. I don't think we ought to be getting in their business one way or the other.
These people are adults and they are married and if my mama taught me two things it's to stay out of grown folks and married folks business! So that's what I'm going to do. Besides, if you can't be freaky with your spouse, who else you gonna be freaky with?

No TV for you!

No, I'm not channeling the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I have actually decided to fast TV for the month of July. It might look and sound a little strange but it's something I felt I had to do.
First off, I don't claim to be some religious nut but I am striving to be more like Him and I have accepted Jesus as my savior so that makes me a Christian. Because I'm human, I don't always do right, nor do I always obey. I'm working on it, Lord knows I am, but it's an uphill battle.

To let you guys in on a secret about Smarty, I watch a lot of TV. I mean, a lot. Like, on a regular night, I get home from work around 6, maybe. Then, I proceed to watch TV until I go to to bed around 3 a.m.-ish. If you're counting, that's about nine hours of TV.
What could I be watching pray tell? Well, there's always CNN and Headline News and an episode of "Law & Order" on, whether it is the original, "Criminal Intent" or "Special Victims Unit." Then of course there is "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" Of course I have to get my dose of reality TV with "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "Little People, Big World." And if "Grey's Anatomy," "In Plain Sight" is on, I'm watching that too. Let's not forget the shows on Nick @ Nite plus reruns of "Girlfriends," "Half & Half," "The Golden Girls" and believe it or not, there's almost always something worth watching on BET-J, TV One and HGTV.
The thing is, I didn't realize how much time I wasted watching TV, particularly those shows I've seen before, until I turned off the TV. Today is Day 7 and I think I am going through withdrawals. Seriously, I don't ever recall going this long without CNN since I've been working in the media. I hate not knowing what's going on in the world.
I know some of you may be asking why I'm doing this to myself. Trust me when I tell you that there is a method to my madness. Stay with me now.
There are a lot of things I have been praying for and asking God to do in my life and they all require me doing something first. That's not hard, right? Wrong, I noticed that watching that much TV served as a distraction and actually made me procrastinate even more.
The main thing I have been praying for is sleep. I have had a jacked up sleep pattern since high school and I haven't been able to get it together since. I usually require four hours of sleep to function. I need five to be productive and I need six to be cordial while doing it all. Anything after that is icing.
So, add to that the fact that I am trying to get my non-profit organization started and for that, I have to put together a business plan. I can not and I will not throw something together just to say I have a plan. I owe those kids more than that and I owe myself more than that.
Add to that the fact that I really need to stop being a punk and take the GRE so that I can apply to graduate programs for non-profit management. I was blessed/super fortunate/lucky (whatever you prefer) to have made it through four years of high school and three and a half years of college without learning how to study. As you can imagine, that leaves me at a disadvantage in prepping for what is no less than the SAT on steroids.
The plan was to take the test before my birthday, that didn't happen. I got discouraged after seeing my scores from a practice test. I allowed fear to set in and I haven't taken it. Yea, ya girl Smarty gets scared sometimes.
At any rate, since abandoning TV, I have managed to nearly complete my business plan. I need perhaps a solid day and a half to complete the plan. From there, I have to identify grant-giving public and private organizations and pull together the research for the presentation to board of directors for my uncle's ministry and the focus group I've pulled together. And this is only Day 7.
In addition to this, I'm sleeping so much better it's not even funny. I don't remember being this well-rested in all my 26 years of life. It's not that I'm going to sleep at a set time, I'm getting more sleep when I do go. Instead of knocking off at 3-ish, it's more like 12:30 and then a nap when I get home in the evenings.
There's a lot to be said about this no TV thing, but then again, I hate to be in the dark about the world happenings. CNN.com only gives you so much.
Anyway, I think the purpose of this post is to get you guys to hold me accountable. Plus, being a Christian, we are supposed to 'speak' things into existence. Personally, I think that if you shout it out to the world, folks are going to expect results and this is what I'm doing. I want you guys to mention my nonprofit or ask me how my "studying" is going or something just to sort of keep me on track.
Can I count on you?

Many, many thanks ...

... and big ups or whatever the young'uns are saying nowadays.
You all have helped to make Black Music Month a success. I decided to try something that I've never done. It is really rough and unedited. and I hope ya'll enjoy it.
I couldn't mention everybody but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you all.
I will be taking a brief sabbattical from this blog so that I can catch up on Poli-ticked because I haven't been over there in a hot minute. I'm sure you guys understand.