Friday, December 26, 2008

Family

As I grow older, I become more concerned with the status of my family. My grandmother is deteriorating right in front of us. My oldest aunt is trying her best as her caretaker but it is truly a job that is way over her head. Yesterday, Christmas Day, I was introduced to the mass confusion and sadness that has become their life. I sadly wondered if my grandma has lost her mind. She pooped but reached inside diaper and stuck her hand in it! I kept smelling something and wondered why no one else noticed the strong smell. I happened to look into her room and her hand was covered and she was sort of testing the consistency of the poop out squeezing it in her hand.

I was so shocked! This is not the woman who raised me. She has become a child again it seems. I can't even communicate with her because she tries to speak but all I hear is mumbles. I'm afraid to be near her. I feel so ashamed of myself and mostly because I fear that I will end up that way. I don't want my daughter to have to put up with that from me. The thing is my aunt doesn't want to but her in a nursing home. I understand why cause there have been so many reports about elderly people being abused but the state of the household is like madness. I don't know how I can help considering I don't like to be around anymore.

What kind of granddaughter am I. I just needed to vent about it. I could not even imagine how to answer my questions.

Until next time

Monday, December 22, 2008

Home for the holidays

Well, it is almost Christmas. Wow, three days from now people will be opening gifts and the rush for the perfect gift will be over. I haven't found it yet. I haven't received it yet.

I'm really spaced out about the holidays. I don't feel the enthusiasm I had when I was a kid. Should I be excited, am I expected to be excited as an adult. Man, I don't even feel like an adult. Mainly because I'm still going home for the holidays. I have a home but we journey back to Louisiana for the sake of family. I wish we could go on a trip somewhere.

Aargh, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm rambling as usual cause I don't have any focus. What's a girl to do.

Anyway, Happy Holidays and be blessed.

Until next time

Thursday, December 18, 2008

eyes wide open

I feel awakened by the truth or at least the truth represented through fiction. I feel so embarrassed and ashamed at my ignorance and the fact that my life has been so empty. While I hold the burden of this emptiness over my own head, I have to admit that family in their misguided yet well meaning ways led me astray.

Sadly, it is not just my family that bears the brunt of this because as African Americans we are all lost; some of us are dead and empty inside. We are mere shells because of our lost culture and true sense of self. We don't know who were are and whom we belong to because of the tragic history in which we found ourselves living here in the country. This whole mess is convoluted and confusing and so hard to pull ourselves out of because we have been adrift for so long. I recognize that I am a lost and fatherless child in America but then again we all are. We have adapted to the culture here as best we can but what do we really have? Asians have their background and culture that they can fall on, Hispanics have a culture to claim, Hindu Indians, Native Americans, and even white people whether they are Irish, Italian, Scottish etc; however, Blacks have nothing but ideas and traditions that were pulled from other cultures and called our own. Most would say this has made us stronger but there is still a weakness that has left us all floundering. Men aren't men anymore. Women have had to take their place as the head of the family and trust me, this is not a job I asked for nor do I want. Children are suffering as fathers leave and continue to make more fatherless babies.

What is there for us to do? Where do we turn? I don't know yet but since my eyes have been opened I intend to search for my truth and thus try to help my family which could lead to helping our community and then help our race. I know I may stumble and fall in my quest and it may take a while but I feel invigorated at the prospect of finding myself amidst the madness we call America or home.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Well?

I'm not so sure this experiment is working out quite like I expected. I was hoping that setting this blog up I would gain some confidence in my writing and my ideas would flow from my brain to my fingers onto the page. Well, that has not happened yet. Shoot, I can't even come back on here on a regular basis as I expected I would. Maybe I'm just not that creative and I don't have anything all that special to say.

I think I knew really deep down I wasn't that deep and even I don't care what I have to say so why would anyone listen or read it? Maybe I'm just feeling down on myself as usual. Who knows?

Well, they say a writer writes I guess as a wanna be writer I need to keep writing when I get the feeling or just keep pushing until I push something out; bad, good or indifferent. Something magical may happen. I guess I got to keep hoping, wishing, praying and just plain ole writing.

Until next time

Thursday, December 11, 2008

crumbling

Have you ever felt as if life as you know it is crumbling down around you? I have been feeling that way for quite a while now. It seems as ever aspect of my life is going to the pits. Fortunately, I am still employeed and have a roof over my head but my home life is crap. My kid and I are at each other's throats on a constant basis. I feel so tense and unhappy all the time. I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like I'm losing it.

I don't find solace in my favorite activities anymore. I feel like I'm just going through the motions most of the time. I realize that many people are struggling and basically just trying to stay afloat. My situation isn't as dire but I feel like it is. Maybe I'm overreacting and stressing out. However, it just seems like the stress is building instead of waning. I just hope I don't go over the edge. I really hope I don't cause I feel scared by the things that come out of my mouth, the things I think.

Monday, December 8, 2008

nothing going on

I just wrote some crap about my lame weekend and it didn't post and I don't feel like writing it again.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The world will soon be ready to receive your talents

I've been waiting a long time for this to happen. It seems as if people are following me around waiting for something to happen. Sometimes people find themselves greeting me like an old friend eager to bask in my knowledge.

Just yesterday, this girl came up to me and said, "So when will you finish? I can't wait to read it. It's like a light popped in my head and said 'she will be done soon and you will love it'."
She was practically bouncing off the walls of the local junior high that my sister attends. I pick her up every afternoon. Usually, I sit in the car and wait for her to come out but something compelled me to get out and go to her.

"Well" she shrieked at me. "Are you finished? I want to read it so bad. Can I have an early copy?"

I stood before her completely baffled by this response from a kid I didn't even know! I just stared at her embarrassed by her eagerness and my apparent stupidity. Suddenly, it dawned on me what she was talking about.

"Oh! I know what you are talking about. Sure, sure you can get a copy. Do you know my sister? She can pass it on to you. Just give me a couple of more weeks and it will be done."

"Fantastic!" she squealed and tried her best attempt to squeeze the life out of me as she hugged me around my waist. "I'll be on the look out for you. I'll remember even if you don't."

"It's cool. Trust me. I'll remember you" I said with a stupid grin on my face as I moved away to continue to look for my sister.

I didn't really know where I was going and somehow I ended up at the counselor's office. I stood in the doorway of the office waiting on someone to come out so I could ask where I could find my sister. A tall brown skinned woman with a giant but beautifully kept Afro stepped out of a side office and smiled at me.

"It is you. I thought I recognized you when you walked through the door but I thought I was seeing things."

Again, I displayed a most unbecoming expression on my face as I wondered what she was talking about.

"Well, is it ready?" She walked over to me and held out her hand. "I apologize for my rude behavior. My name is Sasha Crow the school counselor and one of your biggest fans. I try to read your posts as soon as you get them online."

I smiled immediately at the mention of my blog posts. After months and months of no response or a glimmer that anyone was reading my drivel, people started responding to the things I wrote and then I announced that I would attempt to write a novel and the response was overwhelming. I was afraid I would let them down but I smiled with the secret knowledge that I was mere days from completing my first book.

"Thank you for reading my work. I love the feedback I have received from the readers." I stretched out my hand to shake hers. "I'm glad you enjoy it and yes, it is almost ready. I was just telling one of the students a few minutes ago that within a few weeks I will be done."

"Yes!" she says with a fist pump. "I can't wait to see what you have written. Congratulations, I'm sure it will be a success." Sasha continues to pump my hand that is still wrapped in hers.

I gently pull my hand out of her grasp. "Thank you again Ms. Crow." I slowly moved back out of the office. "I need to make my way back out towards the car. My sister is probably wondering where I am."

I walked quickly back to my car and to my surprise, my sister along with a gaggle of kids are standing beside it waiting for me. I give in to the warm feeling filling me up as I walk to the group waiting to praise me on my blog posts and pump me for information. I wanted fame for my writing but I never knew it would catch on like this. I'm glad I believed that fortune cookie that warned me the world will soon be ready to receive your talents because I'm primed and pumped for the attention.

I quickly greet my new fans with a winning smile and start signing autographs on the slips of paper that have been thrust at me.

Okay, I finally wrote something for that exercise concerning the fortune cookie. I hope it was okay.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Fortune

Hey I remembered to come back and do some writing.! Maybe I should use this time to actually writes a short story or something instead of the mindless drivel I have been leaving behind? Well, at least I will try out these writing exercises I have been doing with this book I read.

"The Fiction Class" by Susan Breen has been a terrific read. I found myself wanting to cry at times because of the relationship between the protagonist and her mother. Besides from actually being a writer, I find myself seeing many similarities with this character. She and her mother are at odds with each other, my mother and I don't even really have a relationship. She is more like a distant relative than my mother. I guess that is because she didn't raise me and I just don't feel a kinship to her although I introduce her as my mother. I think it is more because I wanted to belong to someone instead of just being a granddaughter or a niece. I don't know.

Anyway, in this book, Breen has these exercises that the writing teacher has given to her students and I decided to do them as well just to see how things would turn out and to give myself practice since I don't write like I should do since people say "A writer writes!"

One such exercise is to take a fortune from a fortune cookie and write a story in which the fortune is the theme. Luckily I have saved a fortune I found on the ground because I liked it. Actually, some birds were fighting over this cookie which was still in the wrapper. I got out of the van, grabbed the cookie and took the fortune then threw the cookie back to the birds. They didn't want it at first and then one of the more adventurous birds grabbed the biggest piece and flew away! I looked at the rest of them and thought, "That is what you get for being slow and picky." Anyway, here I go.

The World will soon be ready to receive your talents. Good don't you think? When I saw this I just knew it was a sign of some sort. I once saw a fortune teller or palm reader because that is what she did. She told me that I would not find my success until after I turned 40 or something like that. This bothered me cause I was ready for something to happen then in my late 20s. She described my current boyfriend to a tee which made me believe her and she also told me to just leave the lost relationship with my sperm donor alone. I think she said it would not do me any good trying to make something happen when it was not meant to be. I really didn't like that. I have been desperate to find my father for so long but I'm afraid to actually look for him. I really think since he left he should come back to find me not me going out looking for him.

Ugh, I've typed to long and now I don't feel like doing the exercise. I will come back and do it tomorrow. Hopefully this will give me a chance to think about what I want to write.

Until next time

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mistakes

Do you ever feel as if you keep making the same mistakes over and over? I've heard people say that you have to learn from your mistakes so that you won't keep repeating them but it seems to be the opposite for me. The only thing I haven't repeated so far is taking up with another loser guy. That is because no one is checking for me. I feel totally invisible to the opposite sex. True, I'm not as pretty and young as I used to be. I've gotten fatter especially around the waist and nowhere else it seems but I am just a void right now. I can't even make any friends! No one talks to me. I'm just background noise it seems. The people I don't want to talk to talk to me incessantly non stop.

Back to the mistakes, it seems like I just can't make an correct decisions. I'm in a house that seems to be falling apart a little bit every week. I don't have the energy or know how to fix the problems. However desperate I feel at the moment I feel like walking away from it and let whatever happen happen. I'm tired of making decisions, bad decisions. Shoot sometimes I feel like I would join a cult just to have my decisions and thoughts taken from me so I can get some peace. Drastic thoughts I know but they are just thoughts.

I feel trapped but with my current circumstances I can't walk away. I guess so many people have walked away from me, at this point I can't do it myself. I know how I'm wrestling with the after affects of my abandonment so I will not do it! I guess I will just suffer the fate of my bad decisions until something gives.

As I wrote on Thanksgiving, I have so many things and people to be thankful for but these bad feelings keep pulling me down. I don't know if this is hormonal or mental. Whatever, I got it out of my system for now. Hope that helps.

Until next time

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Hey, it is the day after, after Thanksgiving. We stayed home today and did a few household chores and watched Good Times episodes. I love me some Good Times. Other than that, I've been in my pjs all day looking for stuff to get into when I knew I should be outside raking the yard. I hate yard work every since I stated seeing creepy crawlies out there. They freak me out and the yard has gone to hell. If I had the extra money, I would pay a service to take care of it.

I've started on a new book called the Fiction Class. The writer added writing exercises and I have been trying them out. I still don't feel that motivated to actually start my own stories but maybe if I keep with the exercises my muse will re-awaken from her long nap and kick prince procrastination in the butt and out of my life!

I want to write some stuff that is a bit more personal but I'm afraid someone will one day read my nonsense and see who I am. So far no hits but who knows. So, I guess I will keep the juicy stuff in my head or my notebooks stuffed between my other bits of twaddle.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I can't think of anything else to say. Story of my life. I'm so dry I'm about to break off into tiny bits of pieces and float away.......

Until next time

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Giving Thanks

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

This holiday feels a tad weird for me today because we aren't with family this year. I decided to stay at home and share some time with my daughter instead. Basically, I didn't feel like driving to Louisiana! On the real, I just hope we can give thanks for all our blessings and enjoy each other's company instead of getting on each other's nerves like we usually do.

I am thankful for my baby girl because she has brought unconditional love into my life. Even when we are upset with each other, the love is still there. She tells me how much she loves me and I try to do the same even though I wasn't raised to say I love you and hug and kiss all the time.

I am thankful that we have a roof over our head no matter what issues we have with the house. It is steadfast, keeps us warm and dry and we always have a place to come back to at the end of the day.

I am thankful for the family and friends that are constants in our lives. I cried last night because I feel sorry for the missing family that I've never met and the lack of friends but I do know the people we do have in our lives care about us.

I am thankful for our health. I am especially thankful for the health benefits we do have because I know there are some that don't have any at all and really need them

Lastly, I am thankful for my job. I hate it with a passion. I am bored to death by it but it provides income for my small family in these hard economic times.

I think it is important to put things down in black and white from time to time so you can get a clear perspective on your situation. Life is too too short and we should give thanks to what you have and what you don't have. I guess T.I. is right about that.

Until next time

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Forgetful

Man, I am so bad about remembering to write everyday. I guess it's cool cause I'm not talking about anything earth shattering. My plan was to use this as a tool to get me used to writing and generating ideas. I have ideas but I just don't know how to put them together and make it mesh. Meh, this will be a short post.

Until next time

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Hey Ya'll
I'm feeling really crabby tonight. I worked outside today moving dirt on my property that I should have moved a year ago and my back is killing me. I needed to do this cause the dirt was pushing the rain water in a different way instead of to the drain and the dirt is eroding behind my house which leads to my garage. Bonehead move on my part for not moving the dirt immediately when I saw what was going on. Now I'm in panic mode trying to move the dirt and get it packed down. I moved the majority of it away. Hopefully when it rains the rain will flow to the drain and not to my dirt. But, when it rains in Texas, it comes down like crazy and I run the risk of the dirt washing away anyway.

Other than this, I didn't do anything today except watch a couple of episodes on the History channel discussing history of each state in the Union. These were some fascinating shows. I wanted to watch them but it seems they were on from 10am to 5pm and I needed to get out there and get started. I waited until 2pm to start and moved a lot!

As I said before, my back is killing me now. I'm so tired I don't want to go to work. If it wasn't for the fact that I was off Thursday and Friday last week I would call in. I'm using up my vacation right away. That sucks.

We are watching the American Music Awards tonight and it is okay. Nothing spectacular. Annie Lenox and Mariah Carey received special awards and Kanye West won two awards that should have gone to Lil Wayne. Oh, Alicia Keys has won three awards so far however, Mary J. should have won one of those she got.

Okay, I need to go shower and hope in the bed cause I am bushed.

Until next time

Friday, November 21, 2008

Twilight

Okay, I just got back from seeing the movie Twilight. I wasn't blown away but I enjoyed the interpretation of Stephanie Meyer's book. The movie was truly an accurate depiction of the novel. I enjoyed seeing Robert Pattison as Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan. Their love story made me yearn and long for things I am missing in my life. I don't need all the dramatics and danger of loving a vampire but I could feel the chemistry between them; they made the story come to life from the pages of the book.

I long to have someone look at me with so much desire. Pattison really pulled off the broody soft-hearted unlikely vampire. I really didn't think he would do well just from seeing the trailers but he did it. At first, all I saw was Cedric from Goblet of Fire but now I want feel his stone cold fingers caress my warm body. Damn, I am off my rocker right about now. I sound like some horny teenage girl!! Actually, I was quite chaste as a teenager, I'm just perpetuating the stereotype. Anyway, the movie was a love story with some action scenes thrown in for good measure just like the book but I'm not sure how everyone will react to it. I was worried that Half Blood Prince was pulled back because it would not be able to compete with Twilight and I was mistaken. People will like the movie but I don't know if it will be the blockbuster everyone thinks it will be. The rest of the books are all lovey dovey with minimum action and does that really sell? I guess it does cause females flocked to read the books! I would go see them but will the masses do the same?

The love story of Edward and Bella brings thoughts of major passion and heat while the action and adventure in the story of Harry Potter would have blown the audience away. There were a few guys in the theater but this is truly a movie for the ladies. As I drove away from the theater, the lust induced adrenaline coursed through my body but there wasn't anything I could do cap my feelings. I don't have an outlet to so my arms long to be held, my face longs to be caressed with love and affection and my heart fills empty while this desire burns through my loins. Where oh where is my Edward?

Laters

Thursday, November 20, 2008

procrastination

See, I did it again. I said I would try to write something everyday and I've already forgotten to come and write. I really don't have much to say. My daughter was home sick today so I missed work. No biggie since if I could I would miss work everyday! Don't get me wrong, in this economy I am very fortunate to have a job but I am so bored. Thing is I don't know why. I have a semi cushy job since I really don't do anything major but I am bored. I've been a cable technician for almost 15 years and I am tired of it. I want action, adventure; a purpose besides pulling cable!

Other than that, I finally mowed my yard after about not cutting it for going on a month or two. It's a good thing it's not summer and in the growing season cause I would have a freaking meadow in my front yard. Right now, my grass is a haven for weeds. I so hate my yard with the weeds and stickers bushes that get caught on your clothes or the bottom of your shoes.

Then, I finished watching Order of the Phoenix. I've seen it before but I had a hankering to see it again since I only saw it the one time in the theater last year. I'm really bummed that Half blood Prince won't come out until next summer. Man that was a bone head move on the studio execs pushing the movie back. I guess they were afraid to compete with Twilight. They should have put the movie out at the end of this summer so Harry Potter fans can coast the wave of seeing a movie every year since the series has ended. I think that with the books all being published and the last two movies aren't coming out until 2009 and maybe 2010, people are going to lose interest. Yes, true fans will wait with baited breath but the general public will lose interest in Harry and Co. I hope not cause I want to see what happens in the last movie regardless if they split it into two movies. I've read all the books multiple times; I just like seeing how it all translates on the big screen. Plus, Daniel Radcliff is such a little cutie as well as the Weasley boys, especially the twins!

Okay, I've blathered on about nothing long enough.

Until next time.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Hello

Hello and welcome. I'm not so sure what I will be writing about but I have been contemplating making a blog for a while now. It doesn't matter if anyone reads this but I just felt the need to write and try and get over my hesitations to get stuff out. I enjoy reading other people's work immensely and would also like to call myself a writer but the words are stuck somewhere and I can't get them out coherently into some type of story!

Basically, I'm just totally frustrated with my life because I didn't and still don't have a plan and I'm just drifting and stuff happens and I react. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of yelling and reacting. This is what I sort of meant by living on the fringe; not living just looking at everyone else manage their lives.

Well, eventually I hope my rambling will take some sort of shape or form as I try to write a little something every night. Yes, that will be my goal until something happens. I will push myself to write something every night.

Okay, I guess this will be it for now unless I have an epiphany and I just really need to come back write more.

By the way, I have a kid so there will probably be some ranting and raving about her because she is a major source of my crazyness. Whoever said motherhood was a joy lied big time!!

Until next time,