Happy New Year.......... I guess...

So apparently, it's 2010. Where the HELL did this year go? It passed so quickly, with not many happy, memorable moments. In general, it sucked. Christmas and New Years for the first time in my life, felt like any other day. There wasn't that "feeling" of a special day.

Also, 2009, was the year the music died. Music has sucked for a long time, but to lose MJ. WoW! An entire era is over. I can't think of one person creating real music right now. Timeless, non-formulaic music. There are people who are close, but nothing like MJ. I can listen to most of his music and it's not dated. It's just good. I still hear MJ music and a sense of deep sadness comes over me. When he was alive, I liked him, but I wasn't a stan or anything. Now that he is gone, it has really hit me how special he was and what his life was really about. It cuts deep. I don't think black people are realizing that we are losing all of our heroes and icons, we are disappearing from tv and media and actually regressing. Most won't until it reaches a ridiculous level.

Also, what's up with all the slackness. I am sooooooo tired of the jumpoffs, celebrity men who are just begging to catch something, the reality stars who genuinely think they are famous for nothing more than being skanks. Just YAWN! So tired of it. All the publicity stunts and attention seeking crap is just pathetic now. I really hope we can go back to a time, when people actually had to have talent and work hard to be on tv. Great acting, good storylines. Sigh, lying on your back and putting out sex tape, should not suffice.

Yea, for me 2009 was sooooo boo. The only things I can say was positive were elements of personal growth. I learned so much and matured and developed a lot this year and for that I am grateful. Not to sound like an elitist snob or anything, but the deeper I get into my studies (almost done undergrad and headed to grad school), the more I realize how much it is an essential step, not just towards a career, but to forming ones identity and shaping their lives. I really believe some of those European countries have got it right, by making university free. It is essential. You learn things and are put in situations that force you to grow and these scenarios would never present themselves outside of an academic environment. You learn to see with different eyes. If you really engage yourself and take in the experience, it is definitely life changing.

So that's my piece. Check out Skillz 2009 wrap up. He always knows how to call out whoever needs to be and lay it down nice on the track. Here it is:

Alicia Keys and women like her.......

I think Alicia Keys is a beautiful, talented woman. I mean her singing is a little nasal and straining sometimes, but generally, I can deal. I was never a super fan and I was never a hater, just neutral. That was until the news broke about her dating Swizz Cheatz. It turned me off. I don't know why, but whenever I hear her music, I just get a scowl on my face, followed by an eye roll.

Out of all the men in the world, you choose one that you know and one that you know is married and one that you are friendly with the wife. Hmmmmmmmmm..... I don't care how he is putting it down, how is it ever attractive to love a man who is walking away from his family? Someone that you watch lie and sneak to someone else they made a commitment to? Someone who can lay up with you when they have a baby at home? Some people say, just listen to the music and leave that part out. I am just not good at the individualistic thing. Part of the reason why so many families are so dysfunctional is because people are too damn selfish to get over their own drama and be disciplined and do the right thing. Everyone is thinking about
"self", that they forget to consider how their actions affect others. I truly believe in life having a ripple effect. When you throw a rock into the water it makes an initial splash, but then that splash creates more splashes that permeate other areas. I think this is true for real life too. Every action has a reaction and it reaches much further than ourselves.

With all that said, as catchy as "sleeping with a broken heart" is, I just can't enjoy it. Alicia sure ain't thinking about whether Mashonda can sleep or if her heart is broken. Is Alicia thinking about Mashonda and her child who will grow up and find out what really went down? What kind of relationship is that going to create for Alicia and Swizz in the future with him? What about the issues this boy will now carry for the rest of his life, as a result? Just messy all around. BOO. Yes the onus is on the man, but to purposely and knowingly inflict life-changing pain on another person is just wrong beyond words. I just hope Gonzo was worth it. Alicia, close your legs girl, it's not that serious!

Snobs and why I hate them...... *side eye alert*

I never understood the point of being a snob. I mean, yeah you have some superficial sense of superiority, but in actuality, the people who are true snobs, are the ones who really have no reason to be smelling themselves. Case in point, a "friend" I decided to let go this week. This girl swears that the sun rises and sets on her forehead and without sounding rude, "she ain't shit". I mean she has average looks, and average figure, an average career, an average car and an average degree and yet, she thinks she invented the cure for cancer. Now I am not saying her accomplishments don't mean much, because I am happy for her and love to see black people doing their thing, but when you have to bring up your accomplishments in every conversation and draw lines in the sand between people like "you" and the "them's". GO SIT DOWN!! And then they wonder why they don't have a man. Not that a man is everything, but if women can't stand you, then most likely a man will run from you too. All I know is that I ever become a snob, I want someone to slap me. Cuss me off. But don't let me ever walk around making an ass out of myself, acting pretentious for no damn good reason.

GET OVER YOURSELF!

I love fashion but........

I am so damn lazy. In my mind, I swear I could put to shame any fashionista. I realized after talking to quite a few self-proclaimed "fashionable" people and "models" (speaking of models, why is it that every damn black girl wants to be a god damn model? EVERYBODY, short, tall, fat, small..... the new cool and sexy aspiration du jour is "model". Never mind, never being signed to real agency or doing any real, paying. meaningful work or even knowing who the big names, designers, and trends are; you're a MODELLLLLLLLL! *insert eye roll*. I'm not trying to be mean and no i'm not hating, I just don't understand trying so hard to be something, that in most cases, you know nothing about?!........Oops, I went off, back to the regularly scheduled subject matter.)

So anyway, I realized that I'm kinda damn good at this fashion thing. I love designers like DSquared, Gucci, Marciano, Marc Jacobs, Rachel Roy, Rosa Cha and ROBERTO CAVALLI!!!! I love Cavalli. Every collection I see, I swoon over the colours (yes colour has a U in it!), the fabrics, the sexiness that oozes from the clothes without being too much *flicks lighter in honour*. The price however, I don't like. I don't care if I were to marry Barack Obama (sorry Michelle), I cannot justify spending 3,450 on a pair of pants. That to me, is crazy. I swear if I was rich, I'd be the cheapest, richest mofo in the world. Still calculating the percentage off of stuff and rubbing the bills between my fingers to make sure it's not more than one before I give it up. Unless that pair of pants that amounts to what some bring home in a month, can do my taxes, wax my legs and cook me a meal, I refuse to buy it. Sigh**

In reality, as much as I love fashion, I like comfort. The clothes look so damn pretty, but in all honesty, ladies, ya'll know that shit ain't comfortable. I see gorgeous shoes with a peep toe and six inch heel and automatically start to envision what I could put it with and as I try to walk around the store in the shoe and be cute, I feel bunions and corns bursting through my skin and I take them off. I never understood, why women LIE in the name of cuteness to rock shoes that they know damn well are burning the life out of their feet before they get home from said destination. I have seen some women rock the hell out of some heels, but GOTDAMMIT u know ur feet are burning and the "my feet are burning but I'm fierce face" is NOT the business. To be honest, unless I'm really feeling myself that day, I don't "dress". Gimme some nice kicks, a cute tee or hoody, some jeans and some cherry carmex and I'm good to go. And don't let me have a long day of classes at university! Whoa, I will straight pull out some grey joggers and call it a day and don't ask me to "do" my hair unless u want a severe side eye. LOL. I blame over ten year of being a varsity athlete (basketball) for that one.

The rare time I do "dress" I go for this kind of sexy, courtesy of Gucci.....

The Realization of Oldness

So, I just realized that I'm getting old. I dunno when or how it happened, but I now find myself creeping towards my 30's. Just typing the 3 in front of the 0 makes me itchy. Where did the time go? I swear not too long ago, I was jamming to Brandy, watching New York Undercover and memorizing and practicing (this involved sweating) every single blink that Aaliyah made in the "Are U That Somebody" video. I swear to God, it is still committed to memory. That and stealing my big sisters Nike Air Terra Humara's that were two sizes two small, but were the exact same shoe Aaliyah had on in the video.

*Sniff*

As I sit here, with a plastic cap on my head, under the dryer (don't laugh) and think fondly of my swoop "Aaliyah bang" that I still haven't let go of a decade later, I feel old. I have begun to talk about "those kids" when referring to kids who are in high school now. *Cringe* BET has begun to disgust and I actually pay attention to my fiber intake. Lawd, what's next? Prunes?!

So, in honor of the "Aaliyah bang" that will never die and will always be fly to me.......