Laugh of the Day

It started innocently enough....

 Dear @rashanjamal, I hope you watched Modern Family.... b/c I just deleted it.... kloveyoubye

Then my line sister's sister decided to join the conversation...

@jameil u can watch it whenever on hulu.com :) I LOVE that show!

jameil 

@Sisofsis For real? What's Hulu?

@jameil It has episodes of a lot of popular shows & some old movies too.

»

jameil

@Sisofsis Really?? Is it free?

@jameil the most current episodes are free but u have to pay for the really old ones:/

Y'ALL!!!!!

At NO POINT did she figure out I was joking!!! I have two blogs, a tumblr, a twitter page & a facebook page and this girl thinks I don't know what Hulu is!!!!!! DYING!!! LOLOL

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 95

1) Ever since I learned children who have fewer words spoken directly to them (often those in financially disadvantaged families) struggle more in school, I try to talk directly to every baby/child I encounter. Every little bit, right?  Now you do it!
2) It irks me when people say every since.
3) Noooooooo!! I just saw a child's ugly velcro shoes and almost said, "Never MY ch--" until I realized it's velcro or tying laces 90xs an hour or watching them skin their inevitably adorable faces/bodies repeatedly after they trip over said laces.  :(  PLEASE DON'T MAKE MY CHILDREN WEAR UGLY VELCRO SHOES!!!
4) My cousin's doing a one-week vegan challenge this week.  She invited me.  I didn't even have to think twice.  NO.  I put myself through enough unnecessary hurdles seeing as I have more goals in a month than some people have in a year.  That sounded way more snobby than I meant it but yeah... I like food too much.  I'm not doin it.  One week vegETARIAN?  I'd so give that a shot.  Who else would be on board?  We can give it a shot.  Tell me this, though.  Can I still eat eggs?  (Pretend they're not baby chickens.)
5) My mom likes David Letterman (kinda) but HATES Paul.  This cracks me up!
6) I've been doing some crazy editing!  I get bursts and just GO!  So I think I'll be posting something online for you guys to see soon!  :)
7) My mom doesn't want me to tweet about her... Yeah... About that... Stop doing tweet-worthy stuff.
8) I'm addicted to burgers and am currently bingeing on them.  Don't worry.  It's not followed by purging.  Just delirious deliciousness.  I think I had a burger 4 days last week and almost had one a 5th day but talked myself out of it.  I think I should've eaten it... LOL>  See what I mean about this one week vegan thing?  Never gonna get it!
9) Son!  I had kim chi for the first time this weekend.  Fermented cabbage doesn't exactly SOUND appetizing but I'm a curious eater and let me just give it a rousing endorsement!  Koreans know what they're doing!  Yum!
10) We have our first playoff game tonight!  Aaaaaareeeee yooooooouuuu readyyyyyyy????
11) Have I told you lately how much I love birthdays??  I get sad when there are stretches of days w/o birthdays on fb.  No fun messages to write???  Awww maaaaan! Your birthday is the BEST day on fb!!  BEST!  Hands down!
12) Speaking of birthdays and fb, HBD you can keep.  If you're too lazy to write Happy Birthday, just leave.  Also don't be so dumb as to use D seeing as BIRTHDAY is one word.
13) Rashan is finally blogging again.  He had to put up a week of posts for me to believe it.  And I'm still not sure if it'll stick.  We'll see.

Movies 2011, Weeks 12 & 13

March 27- April 2, 2011
It's AFI list week!  Too bad I only hit up two films.  LOL
65) The Best Years of Our Lives. 1946 seven time Oscar winner about three WWII vets struggling to come to terms with their experiences and readjust to civilian life.  Really good.  It's not difficult to draw parallels to vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  4 stars
66) Platoon.  Vietnam War movie starring Charlie Sheen.  I'm really tired of war movies.  That's what I thought as the opening scenes rolled.  I only watched this because it's on the AFI list and it went offline for Netflix this week. A bit of a slow start but less than halfway through I totally got why my uncle doesn't want to talk about what he experienced there.  The narration was a bit heavy-handed.  That couldn't detract from a good film overall.  4 stars

April 3-9, 2011
There's really no good reason I didn't watch movies this week.  I read slightly more... but I don't think that's it.  It just didn't cross my mind to sit in front of the tv or computer to watch movies.  Oh!  I know what it was.  I was all caught up in season 1 of "Scrubs."  Lol.  I've seen all of the last several NBC seasons episodes multiple times but hadn't seen 70+% of season 1.  So weird!
67) Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  Old movie about pod people.  Kind of funny.  Short but felt long.  I didn't mind it too much but Rashan was definitely not a fan.  I think it'd be great background for a classy Halloween party or something more ironic.  3.4 stars
68) American Graffiti. Really funny to see Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford this young.  Ron Howard I'm used to but the rest were really amusing.  Are they really gonna just drive around all night?  I was bored with that line of activity after about 40 minutes.  Meh.  3.3 stars

Old Man Moves

My boyfriend's really REALLY old in case you didn't know.  We have to get married soon because I can't marry a 40yo man.  Yes, I realize I will step on the toes of some of my readers with this post.  Wear steel toed boots.  I'll wait.  Ready?  Okay!
1) Explaining a party line.  For the rest of you youngins, you could pay approximately 99 cents/minute to call a number and talk to a bunch of random strangers.
2) Rapping "A Children's Story" by Slick Rick to your girlfriend while she prompts you to continue.  If it was a book it'd be a page-turner!
3) While we're on music, explaining all the lyrics to every song she was too young to know/understand all the words to... i.e. anything circa the late 80s and early to mid 90s.  Phrases like "cold lampin" (chilling as if leaning against a lamp post) and "run your jewels" (getting robbed).
4) Anytime he talks about songs from my childhood as hits in the club.  Guaranteed blank stare.  It's rare for me to be shocked by it but the first time I heard him talk about jammin to Biggie or Outkast or something at parties, I was like, "HOW OLD WERE YOU????"  He said, "College."  Worse is when he says I was out of college by then.  I wasn't even in high school!  You old, son!
5) Seeing classic movies in the theater... sometimes before I was born.  "Rocky III" (1982) & "Rocky IV" (1984), "ET" (1984), "Ghostbusters" (1984), "Back to the Future" (1985) .
6) He watched the Challenger explode live and is still traumatized.
7) He remembers when the world was gonna be destroyed by the Soviet Union.
8) He remembers when John Lennon (1980) and Ronald Reagan (1981) got shot... both happened before I was born.

Really, it's like dating a living history book.

April Goals

Seeing as this month I have to defend my 2nd thesis in two years, and complete two other shorts, I'm gonna go light on the non-educational goals.  I'm already at the part of the process where I have daily stress headaches and if I wake up for any reason I'm wide awake thinking about all the things I need to do.

First let's talk about March.  I've had to partially skip the finish transcription stage and get to the editing portion.  Still working on the script but I'm making some good progress.  I've read 758 chapters instead of my goal 730!  Wheee!!  I bounce around so I read parts of books.  This month I completed 5 books to bring my total up to 46!  That means I only have 20 more chapters left in the bible!  That is so cool!  I also got some non-Bible reading in-- three books!  Yay!  I went to B&N and bought 3 books.  I read 2 of them in 2 days.  It was great!  Just like old times.  I used to devour books!  Click on the books tab for details.

1) Read at least 52 chapters in the bible.  That will bring me to 810 total chapters read out of 1189!
2) Continue to work out AT LEAST three times a week.  I feel myself getting into the mode of exercise becoming second nature and something I want to do more than 3xs a week.  FABULOUS!
3) Eat better meals.  I imagine there will be a silly amount of eating out this month so if I can eat more healthily for even those meals, I'll be happy.
4) Make AND KEEP a budget.  I can do this!!!
5) Read at least two books.
6) Watch at least 4 AFI list movies.  Guess who's already done one? MEEEEE!!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 94

1) Some dude was humming in class the other day... and it sounded like a negro spiritual.  Why?
2) I soooooooo wanted to do the best April Fool's Day prank EVER!!  I was gonna tell you guys I was engaged and wait for you to be like APRIL FOOL'S!!  But it would actually be true.  HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE!?!  But no dice.  You'll have to wait for that one.
3) TOP CHEF ALL-STARS WAS AWESOME!!!!
4) Tomorrow we have the third and final game of the softball season.  If we win this one, we go 2-1. LET'S DO IT!!
5) I love how when I put my headphones in my laptop, it automatically turns the volume down.  Awesome!
6) I kinda want an e-reader.
7) I asked Rashan if he would give me a kidney if I needed one.  Without hesitation he said yes.  BEST. EVER.
8) I seriously don't understand why or how I get so into mom blogs but I really do.  It's pretty crazy.   Sometimes they make me want to hysterectomize myself.  Really.  Sometimes it's so bad I make up words and get rid of my own uterus.  But most of the time, the ones I read are really really funny!
9) On Chopped, I always come up with what I would do with that basket... unless it's All-Stars!  Then I just sit back and enjoy!  I need them to do this again!! Stat!
10) When does Project Runway come back?  Soon?  Yes??

Happy Birthday!

My little sister is 27 today!  If you have a confused look on your face because you thought I was just 27 or was still 27, we're 19 months apart!  So from March 30th to August 23rd, we sound like we're a year apart.  It REALLY throws the people who think we're twins. LOLOL  Here's a picture of my sister when she was just a few days old.  Meet your big!

I'm going to Raleigh in a few hours to take her to dinner.  Guess what?  The baby wants to try some food she's never had before!!  PAUSE!  JUST PAUSE Y'ALL!!  I COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD!!!  *tear!*  So we're headed to an Ethiopian restaurant.  Hope it's good!  The reviews are!  Yay!  Happy Birthday Elaina Paina!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 93

1) My program has an intramural softball team and I'm on it.  Everybody was so shocked!  Haters.  Can I help my flyness?  That'd be a no.  But that doesn't mean I'm not a fierce competitor!  I had 3 hits in 4 at bats.  Yeah!  2 singles and I was batted in twice!  I slid in at 2nd and 3rd on one of those.  LOL Also, we were down 1-9 at one point and came back to win 13-9.  WHAT!?!?!  Get like us, son.  Get like us.  I had a ball!  Game 2 tomorrow night!
2) Funny thing about that game... one of my classmates said he'd never seen me run before.  I thought it was hilarious that he's known me 3 years and never seen me run.  Why would he?  IDK but it was still amusing to me!
3) Some days I want to just put my head under my pillow and not be bothered with anybody.  Wednesday was one of those days.
4) FB status of the week comes from Sha Boogie, "When my son becomes a teen I'm going to wake him up at 5am and make him sit at the kitchen table and watch me eat apple sauce, so he can know how it feels. One day.. Lol"  ROTFL!! DO IT!!
5) 4D ultrasound pics are super creepy to me.  Why does your face look like that???  That right there?  Not a baby.  That is an alien.  I'm content with waiting to "see what he looks like" when he's fully developed and out of my womb.  Don't say I'll change my mind when the time comes b/c you don't know that!
6) We haven't discussed lately that I'm ready for graduation.  That would be because I'm quite content to stretch out the time a slight bit more so I have more time to do this film.  Not add time, mind you, but just make the days feel longer.  I mean WHOA!  I know time sneaks up on you and all but YIKES!
7) I find misspelled words irritating, too, but it's obnoxious to correct them on fb & twitter.  If they don't know, you can't help them. If they do know, you're being what? Obnoxious.  Now is it obnoxious for me to point out the obnoxiousness? 
8) Too many of my friends are in relationships that are imploding or have imploded.  DO NOT WANT.
9) Ummmm... this whole monthly emotional roller coaster is REALLY annoying.  I seriously hate the mood swings.  And the ridiculous strength of each emotion.  And the even more ridiculous tv comedy-ness of it all.  Someone make it stop.  PLEASE.
10) I love "Say Yes to the Dress." However... that dress is not gonna be the thing that makes your life worth living.  $50,000 on a dress?  Are you serious??? Let's be real.  I don't want to spend $1,000 and when the time comes, I'm getting mine custom made.  So it's not a firm number but for that much money, I'm gonna be unique!!
11) I love talking to my mom about the Bible!  I love that she knows exactly what I'm talking about.  Ex: We were making fun of how my grandma says a Bible verse after the grace.  Actually we were making fun of the fact that for two days she used "Jesus wept."  Really Grandma???  The shortest verse in the Bible??  So I said, "She should recite Psalm 119."  Mom, "Oh Lord. We would be here all day."  LOLOL!  119 has 176 verses.  I just liked that she knew that we would be there all day... and not just because she talks slow...
12) Ever since Rashan told me Guy Fieri doesn't like eggs, I haven't looked at him the same.  Regular people get side eyes when they don't like eggs but a food person?  Suspect.  I can watch you but I'm looking at you sideways.  SMH 
13) Chopped All-Stars is AWESOME!!!!  It should ALWAYS be professional and extremely experienced chefs.  It's magnificent to behold!
14) Have y'all seen the 5:45 tsunami video (UPDATE: It's been taken down. :/ But here's a shorter CNN version.) of the ocean calmly rolling in and taking out everything in its path?  Riveting!  I created an entire narrative in my head watching it without sound.  For the record, this video falls in the category of things I could not do.  I have an inherent need not to risk my life needlessly.

Movies 2011, Week 11

March 20-26, 2011
A good week for movies and I started on Thursday!
59) Unstoppable. Denzel Washington is trying to stop a runaway train.  Pretty awesome.  My biggest qualm is with the portrayal of media coverage with shots people would NEVER have and a company that would NEVER release that much detailed information.  Even non-news people can see that.  Clearly Jay Pharoah was playing in my head AD NAUSEUM during the film and I couldn't stop laughing! LOL  In spite of the ridiculousness, still enjoyable. 3.6 stars
60) Bachelor in Paradise. Bob Hope stars as a writer who finds himself the only bachelor in a community full of married people.  He's welcomed by the women and hated by the men.  Amusing enough.  3.4 stars
61) The Departed. There are no words.  Awesome, awesome movie about a rat in the police department (starring every white actor ever). LOL  Extremely violent so prepare yourself if you've never seen it but worth every Academy Award it was nominated for and then some.  5 stars
62) The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Film about a psycho who vows revenge when her husband and her baby die within weeks of each other.  Pretty good.  I'd seen part of it before but always missed the crucial beginning.  3.8 stars
63) Inside Job. 2011 Academy Award-winning documentary about the economic collapse of the last few years.  OMG eye and ear wash!!  Why are there so many people in this film?????????  Way too much information.  2.4 stars
64) Protocol. 1984 Goldie Hawn movie about a cocktail waitress who accidentally saves a dignitary's life and finds herself caught up in a compromise that uses her as a political pawn.  Amusing enough to watch and be entertained.  3.4 stars

30 Before 30 Update

I like to complete things.  We know this!  This desire means the goals on my 30 Before 30 list that I'm still working toward HAUNT me!  Because even though some of these things see progress daily or weekly, I'm still weeks or months from the completion of the actual goal.  And don't get me started on all the near misses this month!!!  So to make me feel better, let's talk about all of the things I have in progress!


4) Ride a mechanical bull for at least :08.  THERE WAS ONE ON CAMPUS FOR SPRINGFEST AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT!!!!  What kind of foolishness????  People in my program knew there was one AND THAT I WANTED TO RIDE ONE and DIDN'T TELL ME.  I HATE THEM.
5) Go on a helicopter ride.  Rashan wanted to take me on one for our Valentine's Day but they're prohibitively expensive around here.
8) Read the entire Bible. [Started 5/31/10]  It's coming along but not as quickly as I want it to.  I'm simultaneously trying to speed up and slow myself down.
9) Run a 5k. I was supposed to do one this month but I haven't been running.  Sounds like a bad idea.  I found one for next month, though so I WILL be doing it.

11) Go wine tasting in North Carolina Wine Country.  ARGH!!!  Rashan and I went to a vineyard this weekend and all the vines looked like THIS!  Brilliant blue skies, lush green grass and naked as a jaybird vines...... Pass on that tour!!!
12) Cook my way through Tyler's Ultimate cookbook.  I'm really terribly over this one and I'm only about a third of the way through.  There are some expensive ingredients and some things that really just don't intrigue me.  Le sigh.
14) Work out 3xs a week for a full year. [Started 12/26/10]  Enjoying this!  Especially since I'm getting to go outside some (something I very often don't like)!
15) Take at least one picture every day for a year. [Started 3/7/11]  I started a tumblr page to keep track of it all!  I don't like that you can't comment (what on earth is the point of that??) but I like that it's so easy to post pictures.  It will be all pics with a brief description.  Hopefully there are more great days than "I just need a picture day."  The beginning of any long challenge is pretty easy plus I got some cool tips on taking daily pics that I hope will help me along.
17) Go to a Duke-Carolina basketball game.  ARGH!!! This thing sells out THE SECOND it goes on sale so I didn't get a ticket.  :/
18) Learn how to hem clothing.  My cousins wasted SO MUCH of my time by showing up 3+ hours late OR NOT AT ALL to the point where I didn't get to learn how to hem clothing from grandma.  UGH!!
19) Ride on a hot air balloon.  Still waiting on this to come on Groupon/Living Social again.  More expensive than I want.
20) Make a house a home via decoration! I've been looking but I think this will be waiting a while yet.
23) Make AND KEEP a budget.  Oh my goodness!  I've been doing incredibly poorly with this.
25) Read 10 classic books: The plan for this is to read one a month but I'm stuck at Catch 22.  Great Gatsby is next.  I think it'll give me a boost.
a. Pride & Prejudice [6/6/10- LOVED IT!!]
b. Oliver Twist [8/14/10 Liked it a lot. The neat wrap up was rather ridiculous at the end. My 2nd e-book.]
c. Catch 22 (in progress)
d. Catcher in the Rye [1/13/11] I can absolutely see why this one was banned. I don't particularly enjoy being cursed out the entire time I'm reading a book.  It was a pretty easy read.  Very stream-of-consciousness which I was actually far more tolerant of than I've ever been before.
e. Grapes of Wrath
f. The Great Gatsby
g. Invisible Man
h. Lord of the Flies
i. Their Eyes Were Watching God
j. Uncle Tom's Cabin [7/15/10- Slow start, intriguing & at times infuriating middle, shark-jumping end. My first e-book. That experience alone was an adjustment.].
27) Get my name in the newspaper a minimum of 5 times! One down for the radio program I'm teaching. Wheeeee!!
28) Enter a food competition with my own recipe. I've composed a couple of recipes. I just need to find the right competition!
29) Watch AFI's Top 100 movies.  I needed to watch about 51 movies at the start of this and now I have 35 left.  I feel like this is moving sooooo slowly!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 92

1) I'm turning into the person I never thought I would be... the person who never checks voicemail.  It started with me missing calls and just immediately calling said person back and has morphed into me checking vms maybe once a week.  SMH.  Just wrong.
2) I love Rashan.  I never want to spend another week without him.  I didn't see him for 8 days when I went to Charlotte and Mississippi and it was TORTURE!!!!  I'm so glad we don't have to do that on a regular basis anymore!!!!
3) Did y'all forget I have another blog?  Pay attention!  Food & fashion.  To The Record Dish!
4) I love, love LOVE Duke bball!!!  I have for a long time.  And yet I was completely unconflicted when  they played my alma mater, the illustrious Hampton University, this past Friday.  HU all the way baby!  I knew there was no chance but I watched the first half and the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half and I couldn't take the pain anymore.  They eventually lost by 42.  Ouch.
5) Every time I go to my friend's house I leave my phone or almost leave my phone.  What is the problem???  I guess after we've talked for 6 hours or more straight, the last thing I want to do is talk more. *lies*  It also takes me a good hour to calm down enough to sleep.
6) Sometimes I think my trainer's trying to kill me... Friday? I had to gingerly lower myself every time I wanted to get lower than standing.  Such a mess.
7) Guess who got the DVR down to 4%?????  MEEEEEE!!  Now guess who could ignore the tv for a week?  Same.  I'm done with non-All-Stars Chopped and non-new Iron Chef America and non-new Throwdown. 
8) Me and Rah's Valentine's Day was fab!  I should post about it... add it to the list.
9) I had the most awesome week for research last week!!!  I found TONS of my ancestors by searching thousands of pages of online census reports from 1870 to 1930.  It's so cool!  I quickly got over the fact that it being handwritten means you can't search by keywords when I kept finding familiar and unfamiliar but ancestral names!!  So this was one of the cooler ones I found. 
 
My great-great-great grandfather, Brit Hilton, is on this page!!  He was once a slave who couldn't read or write but his grandson grew up to be a teacher, great-grandson became a preacher and presiding elder, same for his great-great grandson, ALL LANDOWNERS.  And now two of his great-great-great granddaughters are teachers and he wouldn't be able to fathom what me and my sister do! (She's a web and graphic designer.)  HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!?
10) Have I told you lately how much I don't like "Breakfast at Tiffany's"?  I'm convinced the clothes and Audrey are the only reason people like that movie.  Do you know how upset I was when I found out she was a #glorifiedhooker?  That is not cute, ya dig?
11) I didn't get the hype of the super moon.  It looked like a normal bright full moon to me.  Apparently I wasn't looking at the proper time...  Ah well.  Remind me in 18 years, please.  Thanks.
12) Sometimes I feel bad for being a hater. Then the hatee does something dumb and I think, "This. This is why. I do this for your own good."  LOLOL
13) I have no patience for grown people who need to announce every weekend how drunk they are.  That is foolish.  Please go somewhere with that.

Movies 2011, Weeks 9-10

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted one of these, huh?  Well, here it is!  Maybe next time I'll have more films!
 
February 27- March 5, 2011
53) Inception.  AWESOME!  I loved the mind-bending aspects of it.  I will admit that I started to want them to wrap it up a little faster around the hour 40 mark when I knew there were still 40 minutes left.  But I would definitely recommend this to people and definitely watch it again.  You just know it's the kind of film you could see something different after 50 watchings of it.  I also loved the end.  Subtracting a bit for length.  4.7 stars
54) Temple Grandin. HBO film starring Claire Danes (who won a Golden Globe for the role) as an autistic woman who became an expert and educator on animal husbandry and autism.  Really good.  Touching.  5 stars

March 6- 12, 2011
55) The Sandlot. A kids movie about  OMG what annoyingly bad narration.  No child of mine will ever make it to even 5yo w/o throwing a ball.  Male or female!  Unacceptable!  I needed to watch this as a kid to have the appropriate appreciation... But still, "You're killing me, Smalls!" = AWESOME!  I say it all the time  b/c of one of my UF classmates and had never seen the movie.  The ending somewhat redeemed this for me but still... 2.9 stars
56) The Rainmaker. Matt Damon & Danny Devito star as attorneys taking on the man for some poor people.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  A tad long.  4 stars

March 13- 19, 2011
57) Life As We Know It. Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel star as people who hate each other with mutual best friends who become joint guardians when their friends die.  Even though I got it from Netflix, I was really surprised to like this movie.  It's cute and well-played.  3.9 stars
58) Days of Wine & Roses.  1962 film starring Jack Lemmon about two alcoholics and how their illness destroyed their family.  Really good, really raw.  I wasn't expecting it to be nearly this good.  Wow.  I wanted to know what happened after the end.  4 stars

Mississippi Mania!

I had a blast this trip!  It's hard to put it into words so I'll let the pictures do the talking with just a little help!  I took all of the pictures except of course the ones I'm in.  My mom took Jameil in action shots.  First, the set-up as I prepare to interview my Aunt Shirley.

 Welcome to Mississippi!  

This sign becomes more joyous to me with each trip!

 A rural part of I-20 in Mississippi.  So different from 20 in Atlanta, right??  Hilariously so!

 Flowers in bloom in my grandma's backyard. Love it!

 My grandma with the statue of Medgar Evers in front of the Medgar Evers library.

 Me and my new BFF. My cousin's 2 yo ADORABLE son LOOOOOVES ME! So cute!  He loved me just as much when we met a year and a half ago.  Just as cute then!

 Me and some of my cousins

 Me and my cousins in the interview set-up

 4 generations of women + D who REFUSED to let us take a picture without him! LOL

 Me and my uncle David on our family land.  With the wild boars and deer and bears! Oh my!  Snakes and wolves, too.  You see how uncle dave is running?  This dude was like that all day!  It was awesome!  I loved it!

This picture right HERE?? I was MESMERIZED down there!  This is where my Grandma who called herself "The Pink" and "The prettiest woman in J.asperCounty."  Hilarity.  I could've kept walking down that road forever.  First time I ever felt like I could live part-time in Mississippi.  This is where I'll have my winter home. 

 Me and Uncle Dave at the former site of my great-great grandma's home, Grandma Duck!  This is where my grandfather grew up.  My mom and her brothers used to play in the yard here.

 It was sooo pretty!  And this pic doesn't do it justice.  There were tons of flowers in bloom.

 A lake near my family's land.  Loved this, too.

Oh! And I also hung w/Pserendipity, Aidan, Love Girl & Nerd Girl and we had a blast!  This was a really, really good trip!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 91

I just made it!  Did you miss me!?
1) I can't eat green bananas.  GROSS!  But because bananas taste better when the skin has some brown, they are softer and I can see why people hate bananas.  I can always taste when a banana is too green even in recipes.  Not cool.  Banana-flavored things?  Nasty.  Especially alcohol!
2) My mom really irritates me in the car on long trips.  We can't escape each other and she has to nitpick.  Then we get to Mississippi and she won't let me be without her!  If I leave the house, she wants to come, too.  -_-
3) Was last week really spring break?  Because I got very little break.
4) I need another good sleep like I got Wednesday night.  That sleep was AWESOME!  So marginally uninterrupted.  Even at grandma's.  Le sigh.  Come back to me!  I love you, sleep!
5) Rashan and I want VDay on a weekend and I was on a shoot this past weekend (our originally scheduled time) so we're celebrating Saturday.  He's planning everything!  Wheeee!  I'm so excited!  :)
6) I used to love my middle name.  In middle school (at the start), I decided the name I always hated, Jameil, was OUT.  I asked my mom, fully expecting a denial, but she said yes I could go by my middle name.  Took all the fun out of it.  Know what else did?  The 100 or so people from elementary school who'd known me 2-7 (it was a K-6 school at the time) years who couldn't stop calling me Jameil.  :/
7) My tweeps (TWEEPS!) kept me SANE w/o internet and cable at grandma's in Mississippi!  God bless you all for @ replying to me!
8) Son... if I don't workout at least twice before Wednesday?  Bad for business.  It is a ..S..T..R..U..G..G..L..E.. to get it in before the end of the week, ya dig?  STRUGGLE!
9) I hit the grandfatherlode while researching my granddad at my mom's house. WOW!  I found his birth certificate and at least 9 pictures of him I'd never seen before.  When I first started this, I only remembered 2 pictures of him.  I'm now up to about 15.  Maybe at this rate I'll see 30 pictures of him before I turn 40... LOL.  But seriously, I'm psyched!
10) I'm a room-filler.  Not just with my personality, though that, too.  I spread my stuff out all over wherever I am.  It is seriously a struggle when I travel to wrangle my stuff to keep it from spreading.  NO matter how little stuff I have.  SPREAD!  It's nuts.
11) My Uncle David took me to our family land.  Son.  He says, "We're going down here and I don't have my gun."  SKRRRRRRRR! Nervous laughter. "Why do you need your gun?"  "There's all kinds of animals down here. Bobcats, sometimes snakes-- moccasins, wolves, alligators."  For real?  More warning please!!  LOL  Yes, I went down there anyway.  Partly b/c I've never seen the land and also because I had a camera.  So if anything happened, at least it would be preserved for posterity.  YES I KNOW THAT'S CRAZY!!
12) Rashan and I have given up on a Winston-Salem restaurant with good service and better than good food.  We're headed to Greensboro ASAP.
13) I kind of halfway got sucked into "My Fair Wedding" at my aunt's house.  Sorry, Nai.  BUT my dvr is near 50% and that will never do.  You know I like mine to stay below 10.  Yeah.  I can't.  Sorry another wedding show Rashan is delighted to not be consigned into watching or being in the same room with.  A week away is a killer.  Plus I don't like how uninvolved the groom is.  Tasting w/o Rashan?  Do you know how important food is to our relationship???  Shooooo.

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 90

1) My appetite for royal lineage and information is MADDENING!!  Mostly because if this was some regular American celeb I would not be able to express my disdain quickly enough!  I console myself by saying, "It's largely about history!" (true-- I started at King George VI and clicked on links and links and links backwards and forwards in his lineage and FORCED myself to stop... after about an hour... SHAMEFUL!)  "I don't care about their exploits," (extra true) and "I don't care about their love lives" (half true-- I like to see where the stories intertwine).  I really can't explain it.
2) Did I tell you I used to love me some PrinceWilliam?  His attractiveness has waned in recent years? months?  I feel like the day he announced his engagement was the day he became the most unattractive man in the world to me.  LOL.  MatthewMcConaughey did a similar thing the day I found out he got his gf pregnant (and by googling how to spell his name I see still hasn't married her... did you see how GORGEOUS she looked at the Oscars??? Idiot. Him primarily...).  But he's still pretty pretty.
3) These Monday Mindspacing things are becoming long enough to almost warrant a blog post sometimes!
4) Tomorrow I head to Mississippi for the 3rd time in 4 months.  This is the most I have been in a short period in my entire life BY FAR.  Previously I think my closest trips were 9 months apart.  It's also the shortest three intervals for my mother who has a notoriously shall we say strained relationship with her mother.  I think we'll both be ready for a break after this one.
5) Rashan hates it when I say tweeps.  Tweeps.  For you twilliterates (that one's free... thought I made it up but it's on the preeminate authority, Urban Dictionary), that's short for twitter people.
6) My tweeps know this but my blog la familia should also know.  I, Jameil Il Fabulosa, flipped a tire!  A 250 lb. tractor tire at that!  I also whacked it with a sledgehammer.  WHAT???  WHO ARE YOU???  My trainer had me going full farmer last week and I felt like I could birth cattle after that!  Okay maybe not PHYSICALLY birth cattle but if I was around a crowning heiffer, I'm pretty sure I could reach in there and yank out a calf w/o blinking!
7) I love that the days of the month are the same in February and March.  I have no idea why.
8) I'm gonna start sayin, "Ya dig" all the time.  I just like how it sounds.  Like I'm a cool cat, ya dig?  Already #winning.
9) Speaking of winning, y'all know I can't watch that foolishness but the twitter commentary?  The MOST. And the best!
10) Can we PLEEEEEEEEASE have a Cosby Show reunion where Buuuuuud Kenny & Rudy are now married???
11) Worst trait of fashion bloggers?  This "cool" distortion of the pictures to the point where I can't see the clothes.  Now I know you like your photoshop tools and that's all well and good but if I can't see colors or patterns anymore...
12) I went to CIAA this weekend and pretty much enjoyed myself.  It'd be better if I could get my friends to be slightly less stuck-up.  LOL
13) I take it back.  Let's all complain about gas prices!  This rise is just ridiculous!  Hate it!  Let's all get crazy!  Take back the night!  And the day!  And the everything! SC is 7 mins max from my mom's church.  I sure did go down there to save 12 cents/gal on gas!  Hmph.

March Goals

Let's go ahead and call my lack of achievements a complete and total failure for February.  Except working out!  I also read one book, struggled through three more simultaneously (which may be part of the problem).  I did some transcription but not nearly enough.  I joined mint.com and like it so far but it's a very involved process but I'll keep me up to date on my spending this month. We'll just repeat my goals, WRITE THEM IN A VISIBLE PLACE and #win!

1) Finish transcription (typing out what everyone said on camera) for both Mississippi trips, complete first rough draft of script, begin editing.
2) Send out at least 10 applications.
3) Apply to at least 5 more film festivals with my last film.
4) Read at least 45 chapters in the bible.  That will bring me to 730 total chapters read out of 1189!
5) Continue to work out AT LEAST three times a week.  I feel myself getting into the mode of exercise becoming second nature and something I want to do more than 3xs a week.  FABULOUS!
6) Plan more meals.  I still have horrible eating habits right that make my body feel less attractive than it could with the amount of work I'm putting in.
7) Make AND KEEP a budget.  I have never been good at budgeting.  If I manage to come in under a budget one week, I use the excess the next week.  This will never do.  This month I want to get this under control.  If any of you have any tips, please leave them in the comments!
8) Read at least two books.
9) Complete at least one 30 Before 30 goal.  I have my eye on the bull ride!  LOLOL  Or a dance class!  Something!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 89

1) Rashan... it's like he's never lived anywhere cold.  We knew his body was highly charged with electricity when it was cold a few weekends ago.  He didn't know how to release the charge so I told him to touch this GIANT metal pole... AND HE DID IT!  Then looked like a shocked toddler who doesn't understand what just happened.  I told him to do it because I didn't think he would!  For the record, he got the literal shock of a lifetime!  DON'T do that in the future.  Touch your rubber-soled heel to something metal... He knows now.  (I died laughing writing this! LOLOL)
2) Rashan said he'd never eat a grasshopper.  I didn't get it.  He compared it to me wanting to never eat a rat... even though he also never wants to eat a rat.  Okay is there ANYWHERE where rats are a delicacy?  Everyone tell him this is not the same.
3) Rashan raps aloud what feels like all the time to me.  I hate it.  And he raps way less than he wants to.  I've always hated people walking around rapping.  You look like a crazy person.
4) What kind of pregnancy announcement is: "I don't care what anyone has to say, I am documenting my pregnancy, the good or the bad"? O_O  Honey, who said something to you and you're only 8 weeks along?  Calm down.
5) Can someone ask the Investigation Discovery series "Disappeared" to have some sort of conclusion, please?  It's driving me crazy!!!  Of the 10+ episodes I've seen, there was ONE conclusion.  FAIL!  Find somebody!  Find A body!  Do something!
6) The show "Heavy" is the devil.  I go between wanting the terrible food they're eating and wanting to workout every second of the show!  "I Used to be Fat" is much better on the straight working out.  But the really overweight people absolutely inspire me to work hard in my workouts!
7) People.  Please stop complaining about gas prices.  YOU'RE STILL GOING TO BUY GAS!!!!!!  Which makes your whining irritating and ineffective.  I don't believe in whining about things you can't or won't change.
8) A few hours after I found out my brother & sister's mom died, I found out one of the girls my line sister and I brought into our sorority died of complications related to lupus.  Friday was not fun.
9) I found a 5k in my area that raises money for the same cancer my brother & sister's mom died from.  I'm running in it March 26th.
10) I watch enough crime shows based on life to be appalled by the disparity in sentencing for ALL crimes along racial lines.  It's not right.
11) I got fancy for our program's yearly Oscar party and actually did some research this year for our pool.  The previous years I came in last place both years!  This year I came in second.  ONE POINT out of first place!  BRUTAL!!  But I won $20.  And why was there an informal poll for best dressed at the party and no one I was sitting with was polled.  DA HEEZY???  I call shenanigans.
12) I have been in a horrible mood for the last few days and I'd really like to pull out of it.
13) 76 days until graduation.  Let's dance!  Let's shout!  Shake your body down to the ground!
14) I hate the birds chirping outside my window at 1:32 am.  GO TO BED!!!  There's nothing that urgent.  Also, what am I allergic to that I encountered today?  I hate it.

Movies 2011, Week 8

February 20- 26, 2011
Good movie week leading up to the Oscars.  I also saw the Oscar-nominated animated short "Day & Night."  Interesting... LOL.  I'll be watching the 10th best picture nominee today-- Inception.  I've now seen all the rest!
46) Toy Story 3. 2011 Pest Picture nominee.  So cute.  I really enjoyed it!  This after swearing off kids movies!  I never would've seen it w/o the Oscar nod!  4 stars
47) The Adjustment Bureau. I saw a sneak peek of this film starring Matt Damon & Emily Blunt about a senate hopeful who gets a look at the people who make fate happen.  There were some interesting happenings but toward the end you were like, "Okay hold on a minute now... HOW on earth are you gonna end this film?"  The end was a bit of a head-scratcher.  Not like I didn't get it but like I wasn't completely satisfied.  I'd watch it again.  3.4 stars
48) Get Low.  Indie film starring Robert Duvall about an ornery old man who decides to plan his funeral with him in attendance.  Multiple twists and turns as you find out why he is the way he is.  I would've liked a little more nuance in the story and to get some sort of satisfaction earlier.  I wasn't terribly pleased with the end.  3.5 stars
49) When Strangers Click.  HBO doc about stories of love on the internet. The stats were cute, amusing at first but they became a bit monotonous.  I don't often like essay-style films but I enjoyed this one... and not just b/c of similarities! LOL  It was nice seeing people's love stories.  I've always loved those.  I really enjoyed it. 4 stars
50) Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Doc about who else but Joan Rivers?  Funny and fun but some moments of difficulty I really didn't expect.  I also didn't expect to see her as a good mother.  Really, really enjoyable because of how open Joan was.  Well-edited, well-directed.  4.5 stars
51) In the Heat of the Night.  Awesome Sidney Poitier movie about a black police officer who ends up solving a crime in a racist Mississippi town.  4.4 stars
52) Too Many Husbands. Amusing Jean Arthur comedy about a woman who remarries when she thinks her husband's dead and has to choose when it turns out he's not.  Yes, this is at LEAST the third time I've seen a version of this film!  Still amusing!  3.7 stars

Speechless

I guess I should explain the relationship first.  My dad dated a woman for years.  The result was my older sister and brother.   A few years later our dad married my mom.  My sister and I were the result.  Through all of that my brother and sister's mom was very nice to us.  All of us, my mom included.  Around Christmas we found out her cancer had spread throughout her body.  Last night my brother & sister's mom died and I have no idea what to say.

Guest Post: She Get It From Her Momma

Most of you know Rashan dropped out of the blogging world almost a year ago (because he's a punk).  He claims it's because it takes him so long to write a blog post.  Waaa waaa.  Anyway, I asked him to write a guest blog post and here it is.

 

The more time I spend with Jameil and her mother, the more it becomes obvious why she is the way she is... She get it from her mama! For real, all these things I thought were Jameil-isms are really Ellen Fay-isms. And it cracks me up. The little things that Jameil does that annoy me, annoy her when her mom does it. Par example...

Jameil likes to question EVERYTHING!!! It may or may not be a real question, but Jameil is gonna ask it. She may already know the answer, but that won't pre-empt the question. She may be actually telling me what to do, instead of asking, but she'll frame it in the form of a question, as if that's more palatable.  On a daily basis, I can expect to hear. "Why are you looking in the refrigerator?" "Where's my lip gloss?" "Why are you so handsome?" Well, maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch, but you get the point. She constantly asks questions. Come to find out, her mom does the same.

Saturday, Jameil and I were sitting in the living room and her mom came downstairs. Moms immediately started asking Jameil "Why is such and such out?" "Why are you doing such and such?" "How come Rashan is so handsome?" I cracked up. Jameil was getting so annoyed at the inquisition... which is how I used to feel when Jameil interrogates me... I mean before I learned to meditate... and chant... and do yoga... and put myself into a trance... and dru-.... What was I saying again? Oh yeah, the questions are hereditary... And that's not all.  

Jameil and her mom don't so much talk to each other, as they speak to the room and if the other happens to acknowledge the other, then that's a bonus...  It is almost impossible to follow along when they are conversing. A conversation can start off being about an old church friend, jump without warning to what they had for dinner August 12th, then dip into a discussion of something funny and handsome that I did, then 5 minutes later back to the old church friend. I've seen this conversation pattern many times with Jameil and her friends, but to see it happen with her mom gave me some more insight. THEY BOTH DO THAT!!!! So instead of the normal 4 conversations at once that I'm used to with Jameil, with her and her mom, it's like 8 convos at once. Lemme find out Jameil get that from her Mama too. 

Oh yeah... neither of them EVER finish a story. You'll be all into the tale, then they'll leave you hanging by changing the subject or just plain forgetting to tell the end. I was dying laughing at the similarities between Jameil and her mother. Well, at least I know what I'm getting into for the rest of my life.

I died laughing the first two times I read this!  Because it's so true... except no one mentions Rashan's looks as much as Rashan mentions Rashan's looks.  And another thing, when I'm talking, YOU BETTER BE LISTENING!!!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 88

1) Can people stop assuming all women love chocolate?  I'll eat it every once in a while.  But love?  No.  Why are you a caricature about your stereotypes?
2) I like mayonnaise less and less the older I get.  It's tolerable when adulterated with sriracha and lime and and and.  Essentially, it needs to not resemble mayonnaise.  But sometimes even still it makes me want to vomit.  Good thing it's so fattening.
3) Ironically? I like aioli a lot.  What a siddity, stuck-up FANCY wench I am.
4) Let's talk about Chopped again.  I think you've exhausted chocolate as an ingredient.  We get it.  Sometimes it's scary in appetizer and dinner rounds.  But it's done.  If I can always figure out what to do with it, these people who cook FOR A LIVING should have no problem.  And Jeffrey... why do you have the spice tolerance of a 12yo girl?  I'm as tired of hearing about that as I am of hearing about Scott's onion preferences.  Speaking of which, my mom had way too much raw onion in her tuna and I was very amused!
5) Does it make me a bad liar if I don't like to lie because I don't like having to remember what I lied about?  Or be racked with guilt after I've gotten away with a lie?  Because I can sure get away with lies.  I say everything with a straight face and people never know if I'm serious.  I am.  I say what I mean.  I'm not really even good at lies of omission unless it will spare someone's feelings.  I'll avoid saying things if I know it will hurt someone and it's not essential that they know.
6) Does it ring hollow when people in relationships say they love Valentine's Day even when they're single?  Because I totally mean it!!  You gotta have people in your life who love you and spoil you that day whether you're in a relationship or not!  I have my godmother and my mom and some great friends!
7) I hate when I'm working out and some dude is looking at me like I'm gross b/c I'm sweating.  STEP YA WEIGHT UP, DUDE AND MAYBE YOU CAN GET LIKE ME!!!  LOLOL  I'm gonna start grunting when I lift weights so they know I mean business!!
8) Twittascope is one of the most annoying things about Twitter.  Why do you have your horoscope broadcast to your timeline?  Can't you PUHLEEEEEASE get it sent to your email?  I'll love you forever!
9) Why do men pour from 7 feet above the receptacle/plate/bowl/cup?  DRIVES ME BANANAS!!!!!!!!!!!!  I thought it was just Rashan but I've seen it on way too many shows lately.
10) My Pakistani friend loves me & Rashan and we love her, too.  How does she show it?  Cooking for us twice a month.  AND IT'S GOOD.  God bless that girl!!!!
11) I used to LOOOOOOOVE Miss Piggy!  And I thought Kermit was THE MAN!! :)
12) I HATE Disqus.  If you have it and feel like I've been commenting less than usual, you're right.  My comments are often eaten if Disqus will appear at all.  I'm convinced it hates me, Mac and/or Firefox.
13) Rashan said I make better guacamole than 95% of the places where we eat it. *swoon!!!* I LOVE THAT MAN!!!  Also, please get me OUT OF THIS CITY!!!  As flattering as it is, that should not be.  Our "favorite" (see: most tolerable & clean) Mexican restaurant here?  Barely passable guac, good salsa, HORRID margaritas.  GO BACK TO MEXICO AND RE-LEARN WHAT YA MAMA SHOULD'VE TAUGHT YOU.  I'm not kidding.  The most well-known drink of your specialty should be the best drink on your menu.  In ANY restaurant.  I have zero tolerance for this foolishness.
14) I can't stop falling in love with people's children... it's very strange.  I see these photos and videos online and I just want to coo!  Over 5?  In person?  I'm awkward.  LOLOLOL  As a child that age I knew how to talk to adults.  As an adult, I don't really know how to talk to children.  I don't know enough of them.
15) Rashan's doing a guest post here Wednesday... I was crying laughing when I read it!

Movies 2011, Week 7

February 13- 19, 2011
Great movie week full of Academy Award nominees and well-known films.  I really enjoyed most of the films I watched!
37) Restrepo.  2011 Academy Award nominee for best doc about a company's tour in Afghanistan.  Company members took cameras with them and the filmmakers also shot there.  I'm guessing people love this movie because of the danger and that it feels like you're getting a clear picture of what life is like for soldiers out there.  Difficult to watch.  3.7 stars
38) Winter's Bone. 2011 Academy Award nominee in multiple categories.  About an Ozark girl looking for her jailbird father and the trouble she runs into along the way.  I mean... okay I guess.  I didn't hate it.  Didn't love it.  3.4 stars
39) Social Network. 2011 Academy Award nominee about Facebook's invention and subsequent lawsuits.  Rashan loved it.  LOVED IT.  Know why?  Because it has excessive dialogue.  Those are his favorite kinds of anything.  He's going online as I type this to call this movie 'smart.'  I'm certain of it.  He should really stop talking about chefs calling all of their food 'nice' since he calls every movie/show he likes 'smart.'  Anyway.  I liked it.  I'd definitely watch it again.  I understand why people love it.  4.1 stars
40) Eat, Pray, Love.  I loved the book but wasn't particularly encouraged by the idea of a movie.  Even despite me really liking Julia Roberts.  Can you tell me why this movie was 2 hours and 20 minutes??????  WHY!?!  WHO WOULD DO THAT!?!  AND DO THEY HATE ME!?!?!  There were moments where I saw glimpses of the book I loved.  But there were longer stretches of cliches and boredom.  2.4 stars
41) After the Thin Man. William Powell & Myrna Loy team up for the sequel to their hit detective film "The Thin Man."  Very enjoyable.  4 stars
42) Night and Day.  Cary Grant stars in this film loosely based on Cole Porter's life.  Not a great movie.  It focused more on the music than on a plot you could actually get invested in.  3.2 stars
43) Waiting for "Superman." Critically acclaimed documentary about the issues in the American education system.  Some really great moments.  More that dragged.  I stared at the clock for periods of this film.  Even though there were solutions, I still felt overwhelmed.  3.7 stars
44) The Gold Rush. Silent Charlie Chaplin film about a gold prospector in Alaska and the woman he falls in love with.  The music became repetitive and annoying but a cute story.  I wasn't thrilled about the ending, though.  3.9 stars
45) Exit Through the Gift Shop. 2011 best doc nominee about/by Banksy that I fully expected to disdain.  Fully.  I entered this skeptical about the idea of a street graffiti artist well-known for his obscurity and pranks making a "documentary" about street art that had the world in a frenzy.  I enjoyed the ride.  4.3 stars

The Weekend? Looking Forward to It!

Therapeutic Musings started us off with the things she's looking forward to this weekend so here are a few of mine!

• Seeing my mom!  She's the best!  I'm very happy to be going home!
•  Screening my film again!  Boom!  It's on!
• Reading!  I'm so behind on my reading this month... You only have a little over a week but don't forget our internet book club meets March 1st at Nerd Girl's (e-)place.  We're reading Wench.  Mine is supposed to come Monday.
• Beautiful weather!!
• We'll just act like I didn't order a cowl and a crochet headband... Never you mind!  I'm still looking forward to getting & wearing them even if I only get to wear them at night!
• Seeing one of the two Academy Award nominated docs I haven't seen, "Exit Through the Gift Shop" (streaming on Netflix).  I thought "Inside Job" was in theaters in Charlotte but I guess it was a limited engagement.  Now I can't find it anywhere.  BOOOOOOO!!!
• Hanging with Rashan!  This 3-day weekend thing?  Love!

What are you looking forward to?

It's Christmas in Winston!

Fresh off of fake Valentine's Day (remember, me & Rah celebrate in March!), I'm posting about my Christmas!  What?  Don't hate!  I had a great Christmas!

My mom got me Jameil earrings (gold grape-cluster orb drops) and a headband! 

Pserendipity got me the Barefoot Contessa cookbook I'm already in love with! Stace got me the Lorna Sass book I was gonna beg for until someone got it for me!!  Rashan got me the Rick book I never even asked for but wanted!! :)

Stace also got me this awesome dress she had her dad pick up for me in Ghana.  I LOVE IT!!  How awesome do I look in it!?  I felt like she was taunting me since she's in the hottest SoFla and it was barely 30 that day.  :/

 She also got me this HAWT black clutch!

 And now for the funniest series of photos ever!! The anticipation of KNOWING the gift you want is in the box!

 I can hardly hold it in!

 YES!!

 This is where I said, "I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!!" Rashan said, "I love you, too!" I said, "Oh... I love you, too. But I was talking to my Le Creuset." LOLOL True story.

Twas a great Christmas!  Expect to hear about Valentine's day in oh about 6 weeks.  LOL.  I feel like I have 2 or three other posts I'm supposed to be doing here and on The Record Dish.  If there's a post you were looking forward to and haven't seen yet, do remind me, please! :)

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 75

I took the suggestion of some of my amusing bloggers and decided to make this a joyous make-up post since I missed this one a few weeks ago!

1) I HAD AN AWESOME TRIP!!!  I feel really great about the footage I gathered!  I also went to the courthouse & found my grandparents' original marriage certificate and the deed to our family land.  My great-grandfather paid $2200 for 160 acres in 1945.  I feel so awesome for seeing those things!  It was actually one of the first times I saw my grandfather's signature.
2) At Bablu in Jackson (a tacos and tapas joint), I had a foam for the first time.  I was super amused since anyone who watches Top Chef knows Marcel uses foams exclusively.  He once served beef foam with celery root foam topped with chive foam.  LOLOLOL!  J/k!  But at the restaurant I had a margarita with salt foam.  MMMMM!!!  That's CLEARLY the perfect place for a foam!!
3) I think brown eggs are so beautiful.  But I refuse to pay more when they taste the same.
4) Happy Valentine's Day!!  I love Valentine's Day!  Even when I'm not attached.  Really?  I like just about every holiday! :)  You don't have to hate Valentine's Day if you do.  I'll be your Valentine!  You should've let me know and I would have sent you a card!  If you still want your card, email me your address.  :)
5) I've now been working out 3xs a week for the last 7 weeks!  45 more to reach my goal!  :)
6) I want to go to a concert... but I don't know whose show I want to see.... Hmmmm...
7) I'm screening my first film at my aunt's church Sunday and I'm really excited!  The last church screening was awesome!
8) I have a new bed & I'm overjoyed about it!  No more sleep issues!
9) My hair is getting long!  I should do a post about it soon... I'll be late for that. LOL
10) You know how weeks ago everyone was all up in arms about their zodiac signs?  Since my birthday's August 23rd, the first day of Virgo for most astrologers, I'm considered on the cusp.  That means you have traits of both signs.  And I do have a lot of traits of Virgo & Leo.  So even if I were inclined to care that much, I was pretty well-prepared to make any transition.  Seeing as I might read my horoscope if a newspaper is open to it on that day... I think I'm okay either way. LOL
11) Y'all had me & Rashan ROTFDL during the Grammy's!   LOLOLOL!  True hilarity!
12) I have a goal to try 100 new recipes this year.  I had 12 in January!  Already up to 16 and where I need to be for the month!  Wheeeee!!

Movies 2011, Weeks 5 & 6

January 30- February 5, 2011
28) The Toast of New York. Cary Grant stars in this 1937 film about con men who will cross anyone to make a ton of money.  Didn't love it, didn't hate it.  3.3 stars
29) Alice in Wonderland.  The Johnny Depp & Helen Bonham Carter version from 2010.  I really, REALLY need to stop watching kids movies.  So not my thing.  3 stars
30) Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.  Documentary about the former gov. of NY, brought down by his relationship with hookers.  Interesting information... with some good quotes from many sides, those who loved and hated Spitzer, and Spitzer himself, though of course he wasn't too forthcoming on the details of his downfall.  It dragged in some places, particularly toward the end, by focusing on things that really had nothing to do with Spitzer.  3.6 stars
31) Gasland. 2011 Oscar-nominated film about a process to drill natural gas in the U.S. after the filmmaker was approached about drilling on his family land.  The filmmaker's heavy-handedness, particularly with voicing was more than mildly irritating.  I wanted to shut it off after the first 10 minutes but I suffered through... for you.  You're welcome.  I wouldn't be surprised if this film won because of the topic and the fact that it takes on Cheney's company, Halliburton.  2.9 stars

February 6-11, 2011
I promise I didn't intentionally watch two films with wedding in the title!  The first one isn't even about a wedding!  It was an Oscar-watching weekend!  Wait until you see next week!
32) Tony&Janina'sAmericanWedding. The story of a family ripped apart by US immigration laws and the disastrous effect.  Pretty depressing but a good film. 3.5 stars
33) White Wedding.  South African comedy about a groom trying to make it to his wedding and his bride's trials with wedding issues.  Eh.  Just okay.  3 stars
34) The Fighter. 2011 Oscar nominee based on a true story.  Marky Mark... I mean Mark Wahlberg stars as the fighter with Christian Bale as his crackhead trainer brother.  I enjoyed it.  4 stars
35) Black Swan.  LOVED IT!!!  Another 2011 Oscar nominee.  Natalie Portman deserves all of the Oscar buzz she's been getting!  There is some confusion and dislike about the end but I thought it was great.  I don't need my every question answered.  4.6 stars
36) 127 Hours.  Another 2011 Oscar nominee based on a true story.  This one starring James Franco as a hiker who gets trapped in a desolate location for 127 hours.  There was a pretty gruesome scene.  Yikes!  One of the people watching with me got nauseous and Rashan got a physical pain.  Wow...  I didn't love it but I can see why people would.  3.2 stars

Mississippi Trip 2011 Vol. 1

THIS TRIP!! 

1) Why was I stuck in TWO accidents in the sleet that hit the day we headed for Mississippi?  In Birmingham, we went 2 miles in 1.5 hours... our exit was at the second mile.  |||||||||||||//////////////////_________   Please slap me in the face.  We then spent a few hours in the city with my aunt.  Then right after we crossed the Mississippi state line, we got stuck about 200 yards behind an accident that required 8 tow trucks, 3 ambulances and a mess (yes, a mess) of police cars.  And when we finally got past it TWO HOURS later?  We saw a tractor trailer off to the side that looked like nothing or very little happened to it.  :/  I left home at 5:45 am.  I got to my grandma's at 4am EST.  NOT AWESOME.  Guess who  went to sleep & drooled her face off she was so tired.  My mama.  LOL!!  J/k.  It was me.
2) I hung out with Nerd Girl & Love Girl at a Vietnamese restaurant.  She was amusing & my mom adored her.  Pserendipity went to Memphis instead.  You chose your husband over me?  I mean... Is that dude gonna love you for the rest of your lives?  He is?  Oh... okay.  Then I guess I'll let it slide.
3) Fish balls sound DISGUSTING but the ones I had? Delicious!
4) Mississippi is batting like .988 on restaurants!  So awesome!  Every place I've been to here (minus the lowest rungs of buffet chains my aunt & uncle love-- BLECH), I liked most of the food I got.  Super great!  Can Winston-Salem do even a tenth of that?  We just want TWO good CONSISTENT restaurants.  One extra casual, one less casual.
5) I liked my grandma a lot more this trip.  Small doses are key.  It also helps when she was nothing but complimentary: (As I'm working out) "You have nice legs." Then later, "You look great in that color!" "You're like me, any hat you put on, you can wear it well." (That one was for both of us.)
6) My uncle & I cried together as he talked about missing my grandpa.  I feel a lot closer to all of my uncles than I've ever felt since making this film.  My mom, too.
7) The word grandpa looks weird in reference to him.  I've always called him granddaddy or my grandfather.
8) The dvr got up to 30% and counting with all of my shows and I'm so blown!  I try to keep it out of the double digits.  So Wednesday after I return?  I'll be watching more tv than necessary!  LOL
9) Why was my grandma sweeping the house at 1:28 in the morning?  I bet this is my fault since we took her to the Mexican restaurant at 9pm!  She eats dinner at 5pm but was tapas-in it up!  Son!  She'd never had guacamole.  (I'm gonna go ahead and give her credit for my food adventurousness.)  She LOVED it!  She was eating it by the forkful.  HILARIOUS!
10) Raise your hand if you've been working out at least 3xs a week for the last 6 weeks.  MEEEEEEEE!!!  Now put it down if you have also been eating WHATEVER you wanted with little regard to said workout.  *sheepish face*  For shame.
11) Y'all.  If you find yourself wasting money on things you don't need, take that wasted money and put it in a good trainer.  It's cheaper than you think it is and SO worth the money.  Mine is constantly suggesting things that sounds insane to me until I do them!  For instance?  One-legged push-ups on alternating legs.  (Get in position, lift one leg, do a push-up, repeat, alternating legs.)  A week later, I'm STILL proud I can do those!  My mom, Rashan & my grandma were all equally impressed! Most common response: Whoa.  LOL.
12) We talked to my Uncle Charlie Friday night to confirm an interview Saturday at 1-- his chosen time.  He called my Uncle James around 8am Saturday and told us to come on. O_O You live 3 hours away!  And we planned other stuff for that morning.  We MIGHT be 20 minutes early... Except we were 20 minutes late.  LOL.  Didn't matter.  He fed us the second we walked in the door.  We did the (AWESOME!)  interview.  He sent us down the road to his daughter's for some delicious gumbo and amazing banana pudding.  I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!
13) My new favorite Mississippi towns (villages?)?  Homo Chitto (chitta), Bogue Chitto (boga chitta) &... HOT COFFEE!!  FOR REAL!!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 87

1) I skipped vol. 78 or something and didn't notice until 2 weeks later.  I thought it would stop irritating me... but it hasn't...
2) I need y'all to pray for me about this semester.  It's making me absolutely nutty right now and I need it to stop.
3) Rashan noticed a sitcom cliche the other day that I now can't stop noticing: everyone has fertility issues.  That is so lame.  TV makes EVERYTHING about life painful.
4) Please stop being so sensitive about everything somebody says on the internet.  Everything is not a personal affront to you.  But if you think I'm talking about you, I probably am.  LOLOL
5) I am getting increasingly agitated by how segregated the fashion blog world is.  White & Asian fashion bloggers gush over white & Asian fashion bloggers and vice versa.  There are a few black fashion bloggers who talk about white fashion bloggers but there's still not much mixing.  IRRITATING.  I thought widening my fashion blogger circle would fix this.  It's actually made it worse.  By adding more, it became more apparent that the trend I thought was noticing was real.  Scowl.
6) I'm really good at scowling.  Partly because I have a very expressive face.  Sometimes my trainer laughs at how expressive my face is when she tells me to do something crazy.  LOL
7) My mom & Rashan both say "Bless you" to me when I sneeze and they're asleep.  It cracks me up!  You wake up to say that and roll over?  LOLOL!
8) I used to think in hahahas online.  Then hahahahas & LOLs at very specific times.  Now it's almost exclusively LOL & LOLOLs and LOLOLOLOLs!  LOL :)
9) Today is the 40th anniversary of my grandfather's death.  It's weird to miss someone you never met.
10) I'm really tired.  I never get 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep anymore.  I'm about to sleep my face off in the car!

February Goals

I think not having specific January goals and just setting goals for the year set me off my game a little.  I need monthly goals to achieve the things I want.  My overall goals for life are fitness, spiritual growth, relational growth and career growth.  I really got into the habit of following my 2010 goals to the point where I did them without thinking about them in January.  AWESOME!

I'm more than halfway through the Bible.  YESSSSSS!!  I've worked out three times a week for the last 5 weeks!  Yeeeeahhh!!  One of my yearly goals was to read 40 books.  This month I finished 4!  I've started a new page to track the books I read.  I'll update them monthly or as I go along.  I haven't decided yet.  Y'all.  I watched 27 movies in January!  That's pretty amazing considering I might have watched that many in the last 4 months of 2010!  LOL.

1) Finish transcription (typing out what everyone said on camera) for both Mississippi trips, complete first rough draft of script, begin editing.
2) Send out at least 10 applications.
3) Apply to at least 5 more film festivals with my last film.
4) Read at least 50 chapters in the bible.  That will bring me to 700 total chapters read out of 1189!
5) Continue to work out AT LEAST three times a week.  I feel myself getting into the mode of exercise becoming second nature and something I want to do more than 3xs a week.  FABULOUS!
6) Plan more meals.  I have horrible eating habits right now which make my body feel less attractive than it could with the amount of work I'm putting in.
7) Make AND KEEP a budget.  I have never been good at budgeting.  If I manage to come in under a budget one week, I use the excess the next week.  This will never do.  This month I want to get this under control.  If any of you have any tips, please leave them in the comments!
8) Read at least two books.
9) Complete one 30 Before 30 goal.  I have my eye on the bull ride!  LOLOL  Or a dance class!  Something!

Monday Mindspacing Vol. 86

1) I hate seeing old people in tee shirts. They look so sad to me.  Your body can't support that flimsy material.  Please put on some real clothes.
2) I know people who have never seen me in tennis shoes.  I only wear them to work out.
3) I hate Chickfila for not serving biscuits after 1030. What kind of self-respecting southern chicken establishment does that?  All I wanted Friday night was to get a chicken biscuit from Chickfila on Saturday.  Apparently that was too much to ask.
4) Everyone pray that Mississippi plays nicely and is actually warm when I go there instead of the same 40s we have at home.  It's supposed to be in the upper 60s this week! NOT AWESOME to take that away for me!!
5) My workouts have been GREAT!!  I've been pushing myself not to watch the clock. LOL She works me out for real!
6) How is it already the last day of January?  I'm about to be all sorts of awesomely joyous if February flies by like that.
7) One of my friends never answers the phone or returns calls and rarely checks emails and facebook. I'm convinced something amazing is going to happen & she'll be the last to know.  I also feel like I've said that before... on the blog.  I know I've said it aloud.
8) Did I tell y'all why I love cooking Ina Garten's recipes?  Because she makes me feel like a rich white woman.  LOLOL.  I only need that while cooking.  LOL
9) If you didn't read my movies post yesterday, The King's Speech is AWESOME!!  Worth the hype!
10) I love Rashan.  We have so much fun together!  Le sigh.  That dude makes me a simp.
11) My classmates have turned me into an awards show watcher! It's so crazy!  I only like the snobbier movie-related ones, though (Globes, SAG, Oscars).  My fave is definitely the Oscars since we all dress up for it!  I'm wearing my sister's prom dress from 8 years ago this year!  LOL
12) The Real Housewives followers on twitter and fb make me want to do something drastic.  IDK what but I HATE hearing about those foolish women for what feels like hours and hours and HOURS 7xs a week.

Movies 2011, Week 4

January 23- 29, 2011
22) Chinatown.  Pretty good film (despite the director's issues) starring Jack Nicholson about a private detective trying to solve a murder.  I enjoyed it.  Faye Dunaway is awesome.  I need to see more of her films.  4.1 stars
23) The Last Picture Show. Hm.  This 1971 film follows teenagers in a tiny Texas town and stars a bunch of familiar faces-- Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn.  I was pretty lukewarm about it.  Didn't love it, didn't hate it.  Wouldn't throw a fit if it was on in the background.  3.4 stars
24) Waste Land. 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary about recycled material pickers at a garbage dump in Rio and their collaboration with an artist.  Really awesome and touching.  Definitely see it!  4.8 stars
25) The Adventures of Power. Silly movie about a nerd who fights all odds to get recognition & respect as an air drummer.  I can see people loving this movie.  3.3 stars
26) The King's Speech. 2011 Oscar-nominated film starring Colin Firth about the speech issues of King George VI.  Loved it.  Dramatic with moments of humor.  You should definitely see this and Firth should win best actor.  I knew I wanted to own it after the first third.  The rest did not disappoint.  5 stars
27) True Grit.  2011 Oscar-nominated western about a teenage girl avenging her father's death.  Moments of utter boredom and predictability.  The ending felt hollow.  Did not like at all.  And yes, I like some Westerns.  2.6 stars

*Taps Mic** Is This Thing On??

About a month ago, Rashan's mom texted him for my number.  This made me feel weird.  We have what feel to me like strange interactions.  It shouldn't be strange that she welcomes me so openly but it kind of is.  I'm not used to hugely demonstrative displays of affection like her infamous 10-second hugs.  Rashan and I showed my mom how long his mom's hugs are and she was pushing me away after 5 seconds.  LOL.  That sounds so much worse than it is.  Whereas they are physically expressive, my family is emotionally and verbally expressive.  They have a strict DADT policy.  Us?  Start talkin!

So Rashan didn't give his mom my number until she asked for it again about a week ago.  She called to ask me for one of the recipes I used for Christmas dinner.  Rashan & I both felt weird about it.  Couldn't we have discussed that on fb like we do everything else? Don't you know me & Rashan met on the internet???  Hold up.  I'm not sure she does know we met on the internet.  DADT...

Cue Monday afternoon.  I leave training to see she called.  I text Rah like, "Why is yo momma callin me????"  He's clueless.  Fat lot of help he is!

I call her back curiously and say, "Hello?"
She sounds confused as well, "Hello?"
"Hi!"
"Hey darlin!"
"You called?"
"Yeah... a couple of days ago."
Color me confused... "Oh..."
"Is everything alright."
More confused.  Hesitantly, "Uhhh... yeah."
"You sure?"
Pause.  Does she have some sort of creepy sixth sense that I'm in a mood?  Did Rashan call her? "Yeah."
"You sound out of breath."
Oh.  LOL.  That.  "I just got done working out."
"Oh. Why didn't you take your husband with you?"
Hold the phone.  HUH????  I know you said you already claim me as your daughter but this is just WEIRD.  "Uhhhh... I have a trainer.  He works out at home."
"Oh really?  I didn't know that."

Why would you????  It starts to get a little cloudy here because my mind is racing (along with my heart rate) as I try furiously (and valiantly I might add) to figure out WHAT in the sam hill she's talking about!!
"Did you guys move yet? When are you moving?"
WHAT????  "Huh?"  You can tell I have 2.5 degrees, can't you?
"Are you still living with your parents?"
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?  "No..."
"Where are you living?"
THE SAME PLACE WE WERE 4 MONTHS AGO!!  "Oh! Um... Winston-Salem."
"Huh? Wait a minute... Who...?"

This... two and a half of the most awkward minutes of my life... THIS is where we both realize she has no clue who she's talking to.

Simultaneously. "Who is this?" "This is Jameil!"
"Oh! I thought you were Rah's brother's wife!"
Relief! Sweet, beautiful milk dotting the mouth of a six pound, 10 oz. baby Jesus relief!  I just... I just don't know WHAT to say I'm so relieved!  So I start laughing.  Really loudly.  LOLOL.
"My pocket book must have called you!"
Insert 30 seconds of only slightly less awkward explanations about how she thought I was her youngest son's wife, a quick, well I like to talk to you, too!
And then, a merciful goodbye!
I sigh with joy and attempt to get my body to stop trying to simultaneously fight and flight.

Rashan's response to the whole thing?  "I feel uncomfortable just listening to you tell this story!"  How does he think I felt???  And then, "She doesn't have caller i.d.??"

????????????????????

Him = theeeee worst.