It's My Life

"It's my life. It's now or never. I'm not going to live forever. I just wanna live while I'm alive."- Bon Jovi

One of the best things about getting older is a greater awareness of how much your time is your hottest commodity. People will ask for it. Some people might even beg for it.  And the older you get, the more you place your own value on it.

When I was younger, I seriously used to be down for anything. I was that person who just about anyone could call up if they wanted to hang out. Some of those times, I have to admit that I wouldn't have minded staying at home by myself doing my own thing. But at the time, I thought that would've been a lame response so I went. Because for some reason, I wanted other people to place some value on how I spent my time. How ridiculous was that?

And then this weekend, I was meeting new people and having conversation with friends about my upcoming plans for my birthday weekend in D.C. (probably happy hours and brunches with a little Michael Jackson Immortal thrown in) and next year, I plan to travel to Italy. Also, I plan to spend this summer exploring Columbus as much as possible. I've been part of a really good MeetUp group for the better part of a year and I want to see more.  Tell me why people were questioning why I decided on these events. And I found myself having difficulty responding when they lacked the enthusiasm I had for my plans.  But I finally found an answer. And it goes exactly like this.

BECAUSE I EFFIN' WANT TO!!!

Tickets have already been purchased. Saving plans are already in action. List of events to attend have already been made. I have concluded that I do not have time for people who do nothing but complain about how there is never anything to do because I can find too much to do. And sometimes that will merely be reading a book on my own time.

 

You Can't Win

"If it's right, you always miss. You can't win. No."- Kelly Clarkson

Today, I found myself reading an article about how a black mother was upset with the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting because no black women were depicted in it. I mean black women do get pregnant, don't we? If you listen to certain pundits, that's all we know how to do. She also took issue with the fact that the book which has been deemed "the pregnancy bible" did not address black women specifically.

I found this interesting because when one of my closest friends became pregnant, I purchased a book specifically focused on black mothers. But do you want to know what her favorite pregnancy book was? That's right. What to Expect...During my practicum at a public library, I learned that the book was one of the most stolen books at public libraries. That and the Bible. Obviously there are a lot of pregnant heathens out there.

But while reading the blog, I noticed that a lot of my aggravation derived from the fact that I saw no point in putting a black woman in the movie just to claim diversity. If they had done so, she better not had been the unmarried woman because of course we don't need another single black mother portrayal. However, she could not have been the married professional black woman wondering how a baby would fit into her career plans because we've seen her too many times too. Maybe she could've been a housewife but then if everybody had decent jobs, the question would've been why did she have to be the unemployed one. And let's not even get into how could they possibly make her seem like an organic part of the cast if she truly was a main character because she must not be the voice of reason sister-girl so often seen in romantic comedies of a similar vein.

Yep, if I was white working on this movie, I would've left it alone too because black people have proven time and time again that you cannot please them and they will always complain. Even in a really simple romantic comedy about having babies.

No More Tears (Enough is Enough)

"It's raining. Pouring. There's nothing left for us here. And we won't waste another tear."- Donna Summer

Unless you've been hiding under a rock today, you know that the dazzling Disco Diva Donna Summer died from cancer earlier today. And so far in 2012, she's just the latest in a line of people who, with them, took a piece of my musical childhood.

Yes, I should not have been listening to "She Works Hard for the Money" but "Last Dance" was my jam from when I first heard Sandra Clark sing it to her beau on 227. But nothing compared to when Aunt Oona (played by Donna Summer) from Altoona performed it on Family Matters. She was beautiful and spirited then. I promise you if that episode was on right now, I would be watching it and I overdosed on Family Matters reruns a long time ago.

Now while "Last Dance" is the penultimate Donna Summer song for me, this song right here just does something for me. For one, it's a very empowering song for when you need to get rid of unneeded baggage. Two, her and Barbra Streisand are holding it all the way down and while I'm not the biggest Barbra Streisand fan, I will admit she can sing her butt off. (Anybody who can sing on command at a moment's notice the way she does gets much respect from me in this audiobox world.)

But this is about Donna. She never reached the ranks of Whitney, but she will always hold a special place in my heart. And because she always appeared to be so positive, I'm not going to waste another tear and will instead opt to listen to her greatest hits album the same way I always do.