Monday Mindspacing Vol. 62

DOOOO YOU KNOOOOW WHAT TODAAAAY ISSSSSS?? GO JAMEIL, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, GO JAMEIL, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!  I AM SO HAPPY IT'S MY BIIIIIRTHDAY!!  EVERYONE WISH ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  :)  I'LL WAIT!!  :)

1) I can't wait to see what magical, mysterious things my people have up their sleeves for me this year!  WOOHOO!!!
2) In just a few days I begin teaching my first college course!  THAT IS SO EXCITING!!  I feel like such an adult!  I've been working really hard for weeks preparing my syllabus.  I want this class to be a challenge and something they come away KNOWING they learned something.  Then I want them to intern somewhere so it can become immediately apparent just how much they learned!  :)
3) I see I need to repeat this missive.  STOP serving bad lemonade.  The idea of lemonade from a powder or that is neon yellow is almost as bad as the taste.  I just can't.  If you can't have fresh, you can at least open up a can of concentrate.  It's really not that hard, people.
4) Also, if you own a restaurant with southern or southern-style food, kill yourself for not serving lemonade.  That is not acceptable.
5) I had bbq twice in a week... Then I had leftovers for 2 days... I'm now over it.  I don't really need to eat bbq again for quite a while.  It helps that I have about 15 (non-bbq) restaurant recommendations!  GUESS WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT THAT??!!  MEEEEE!!
6) It amuses me when people don't know which of the president's daughters is which.  I remember because to me Malia seems like a grown up name and Sasha seems like a cute playful name.  There ya go!  You're welcome & may you never forget!
7) I hate that the media has us so primed with the idea of childmolesters on every corner that a man can't genuinely like children without there being an inkling of a thought that he should be careful lest someone mistake him for something he's not.
8) I've been so immersed in Civil Rights Movement-era books and films for the last 2 years (and before, but really in the last 2 years) that I find Negro appropriate in those contexts and get slightly annoyed when the writer amends, "as they were called in those days."  Like, DUH!  I know that's for those people who will inevitably write about how offensive it is to use that term because they didn't know or whatever their reason is.  *eye roll*
9) Who knew Jethro was something other than a country name?  Not me!  Or I'd forgotten.  He was Moses's father-in-law who gave him wise counsel to seek help.  That's really cool.  It's my uncle's middle name.  I still won't be naming any children Jethro.
10) Whenever I dream about guns directed at me, I always either escape the bullets by dodging them or am somehow magically able to wrest the gun from the (usually male) person's hands or direct the shot they get off away from me or other people.  Very strange.  And I clearly watch way too much tv.
11) I went to an event recently where servers were handing plates ACROSS THE TABLE.  Hol' up.  You are serving food in a bow tie and you're reaching across centerpieces to hand me my food??? Unacceptable.
12) I've already started composing my 35 Before 35 and 40 Before 40 lists...  That is so Aretha of me.  LOL.
13) This is rude.  I don't understand vegetarians who aren't skinny.  If I'm going to be abstaining meat, I'd better have 0 weight issues.  Or my issue should be I can't gain weight.  Can you believe this is the same person who wants to try 2 vegetarian meals per week?