after much contemplation, i’ve realized:

i’m everything i could ever want in a mate. & i’m not mad at that. not one bit.

i’ll be marrying myselves sometime between my 30th birthday & the day i die. invitations pending, i suppose.

full moon gratitude.

late, but i’m doing it anyway:

water
the healing properties of tears
government employees who do their jobs
potluck dinners
fat babies
donny hathaway
aretha franklin
fresh guacamole
books
library cards
cupcakes
hand holding

full moon gratitude.

free concert tickets
mediterranean food
cuties who give great hugs
quality couch time w/ good friends
yuengling lager
old friends
new friends
the healing properties of tears
revolutionary love
free laundry
purple nail polish
gold nail polish
sugar scrub
anti-histamines
& the music of fertile ground.

full moon gratitude.

new beginnings
silence
willful isolation
sundresses
florida water
abundant change
random phonecalls
cumin
onion powder
babies
chosen family
pink dresses
libraries
vinegar
bloggity goodness
raspberry sorbet
cheap wine
pink eye shadow

continually, i sit at the seat of bliss.

gratitude #7 (since i don’t know what else to write):

water

lemon grass coconut soup

friends who encourage me

coworkers who actually get it

new bed linens

juicers

contractor bags

thunderstorms

the laundromat

anita baker

internet parodies

surprise weddings

any and all french fries

lime and cucumber

prayers for you.

daughter
friend
sister
cousin
auntie
uncle
grandmother
grandfather
neighbor
stranger
coworker
customer
client
server
pet-owner
lost one
found one
so that you might love/ fight/ see/ be
better.

yay!

kathryn hall trujillo of the birthing project usa @ the black healers & midwives conference in phoenix last year:

yaaaaaaaaaay!

next stop:
full circle doula training with shafia monroe.

things i really love this week:

my new favorite post on one tenacious baby mama, which can be found right here.

birthday presents!!! (i never got a lot of presents as a kid, so when ppl give me stuff i am not only bowled over but i feel very magical & sparkly, in addition to overall special)

new music

sex*

an internet connection that works long enough for me to cop a new anorak

odara healthy hair food & various other items from chic afrique

my mama

marathon grill

the series of contradictions that make up my blog reading & life overall

my crazy ass, sweet, thoughtful, creative, unique, forever-looking-out-for-me friends

angela bofill’s 1st album ON VINYL (thank you, brian, SO very much!)

* i always love sex. this is nothing new. lol.

it’s so easy to make

one of those “oh this year i’m gonna ____________” posts, only to be disappointed in myself next year when i read it over. i know how that mess goes and i refuse to do that to my psyche. instead, i’m gonna lay it all out thusly:

if you called/ sent a text/ emailed/ sang/ clapped/ danced/ gifted or did anything else in honor of my birthday, i:

1) love
2) appreciate
3) am thankful for
4) am glad to know
5) owe my most sincere thanks to
6) am reminded why i continually fux with
7) hope to always be friends with
need to buy a drink for
9) probably need to spend more time with
10) just plain fucking HEART

you.

thank you. you rock. you are a superstar & SO wonderful for blessing me on my special day. i will return the favor, provided that i don’t actually forget your birthday. & even if i do, i’ma return the favor. because you’re an absolute pumpkin & deserve all that positivity returned to you ten thousand fold.

this was a day when i could look around & really feel the myriad ways in which i am blessed. i hope to continue to feel that until this particular revolution around the sun has completed & i begin the next. ecstasy, abundance & bliss. those are the things i want.

something that amazes me about life:

people really think that you’re spoiled if you ask for specifically what you want, & anticipate at least coming close to getting it. that worries me. why am i spoiled just because i’m trying to make some things happen for myself, things that i want/ need/ desire? that makes zero sense to me. i don’t care if i want thigh-high socks from american apparel or a damn mosaic made from recycled glass . . . if i want it, & i can make it so, i’m going to make sure i have it. peace of mind, a happy family, new sneakers, a meal at brasserie perrier . . . whatever the fuck i want. i’m not saying that just because i want something it should be so. i’m saying that if i’m working toward something, or creating the conditions for something to happen/ come into my possession, why on earth shouldn’t i expect it to be so?

i just don’t get it. maybe gratification is something i’m only supposed to believe in if it’s delayed (ie the idea of heaven being far away as presented by the big three). i don’t feel that way. i think that’s a dumb idea. there is pleasure here. there is bliss here. there are blessings here. there is satisfaction right here. of course, we suffer. but some of the pain we experience can be alleviated or removed altogether by the same hands we use to create it. the widespread misery of humankind, to me, cannot be defined simply as god’s will. i mean, do human beings not have their own will? do people not possess the ability to recognize wrongdoing/ suffering & then do something about it? however small, you can make an effort.

maybe the easiest thing to do is to lie down & take it. that is, pray for whatever & fail to put forth any effort. but in that book some of y’all rely on exclusively, the bible? i’m pretty sure that somewhere in there it says that faith without works is dead. so . . . like i said to R the other night, being religious is easy. it’s being a person of faith that’s hard.

so, i said all that to say this: have what you want. be balanced enough to see what work you’ve got to do to achieve it. it’s that much sweeter when you get your blessings here, now.

last night i was talking to

my girl lauren about life, love, ifa, damaged ppl & some other random stuff.
& i realized: i am sooooo blessed to have clear-thinking folks in my circle. to have friends who’re really about being good, whole ppl . . . man, that’s wonderful. not everyone is interested in being a whole person. not everyone does what they need to do to right themselves first & worry about everything else later.
*this is a placeholder, until i get my internet right &/ or come back home to finish writing.

last night

was a breath of fresh god. i laughed, ate, drank, loved, played, & generally enjoyed ppl w/ whom i love to commune. i mean, wow. i really had fun.

i need to get yani & foster their own tv show.

karas, thank you SO much for opening your home to us
we’ll celebrate extra hard when you c-walk down the aisle in may next year
i love you for being your generous, wild self
next time you need a box of jeezis aych, holla @ your girl

xo

new moon list of desires & demands:

more 84 degree days
new sneakers
a fly haircut
more impetus to cook
a good backrub
sweet kisses from a sweet mouth
a really good roll in the hay
time w/ my girls
a new apartment
the green light on my latest scheme
a manicure & pedicure
more pomagrand lemonade
more afrobeat
more bomba
more music, period
new books!
time to watch my lil movies & really enjoy them
a dvd or two featuring the fania all stars
a dope tan
some more dresses
new places to drink tasty beverages
a nice long bath

there’s more but i forget it all.
this week i’m staking my claim…

okay, i get it:

i have to stay a little while longer. even though i don’t want to. even though every day i find myself thinking that i’m gonna have to run away to new york or pick up all my shit & hide out at my mom’s house for 8 weeks of intensive “i can’t really hack it as a grownup” therapy (better known as working the same fucked up 12 hour days no fewer than 4 days per week, not paying ANYone’s bills except my own, looking for a new job on craigslist & watching a lot of crappy tv w/ my sisters). it’s really obvious. it is. i complained rather audibly to one of my at-work play auntie type coworkers & then in the afternoon, what happened? my division manager announced that basically she wants to utilize the knowledge of myself & some other support staff to turn us into . . . wait for it . . . are you ready? paraprofessionals. i know! basically she wants to find a way, even within the civil service system (which, though it is not inherently racist but definitely antiquated & still fucked up), to pay us what we’re worth. make sure that our skills & awareness don’t go to waste & ooze out of our ears. that’s what her predecessor did. constantly. i can’t say i’m terribly excited, because this is not where i wanna be for the rest of my life. i don’t even wanna hit the five year mark (the very idea makes me nauseous as shit) at this place when i never intended to stay beyond two. at the same time, i’ve been itching for the opportunity to be smart for a living — to really know that i come to work & use the talents i already have.
i complained & got a very obvious response. i’m like . . . okay, but i don’t have forever. & i don’t care who’s a great coworker, who has my back, who really looks out . . . i hate complacency.
& i feel kinda complacent.
i don’t wanna give this place the rest of my life, so i won’t. i don’t want to fester & just sit & stagnate. so i won’t allow myself to.

& i’m having the hardest time understanding what might be on the horizon in regard to the work situation, but i’m gonna shut the hell up & say thank you. i just know what i really want deep down inside. i’m tryna learn patience so i don’t rush into it just so i can say “i quit my day job to do this!”
cuz let’s face it, i need to get the money up. there are folks i want to include in my plan who are currently doing other shit (hey karas!). there isn’t any way i’m gonna even feel okay doing this without a few crucial things having been taken care of first.
i don’t know wtf is going on
but i know the universe answered me before i even got to finish bitching.

adupe-o.

being up on time for work

can be kinda depressing
cuz deep down inside allllllll i wanna do is piddle around my apt. figure out how to make better beans & rice, make one of my infamously random iced tea blends, or maybe even turn on the tv for a few minutes before cheaters comes on. i just want the space
to breathe
stretch
get up & be happy about where i’m going during the day.
not that i’m ungrateful for this job — so many wonderful things have happened in the past 5 months alone, things that have given me the tools/ resources to go where i really wanna.
but sometimes i wanna throw up my hands & say “listen, i really can’t stand you folks anymore . . . maybe we can all have dinner together one day & laugh about it but right now i wanna curse nearly every one of you out for some reason or another & that’s a true problem. so, i resign. effective immediately, i quit. kiss my black ass. have a good day. i’ll be back when i feel like it for my personal effects & every blank cd-r in this bitch, since nobody here has a burner on their cpu.” i fantasize sometimes about that.
but until then, i’m struggling against lateness & general apathy. i like my division manager. i like a few of my coworkers. the rest i can take or leave, with a few insufferable completely inept fucking lunatics interspersed throughout. i don’t like the bulk of my duties, but i’m trying to plow through this shit so i can get to the good stuff. division manager has something she wants me to do.
but the papers are piling
my supervisor is a lame duck & doesn’t wanna help me out
so i gotta do it alone.
that shit is daunting.
i’m takin a mini-break this weekend.

so maybe i can come back refreshed & renewed, after communing w/ my ppls.

i certainly hope so.

today i am grateful for: travel, money, water, pretty dresses, & summer.