In the past 3 months, I have found out that three people who are incredibly close to me were sexually abused growing up. I just want to say it to anyone who may read my blog, who may have gone through the same thing in any way shape or form that it is not your fault. You did not do anything wrong. You are so wonderful, worthy and valuable. You are loved. You are so strong for being a survivor. I support you with every fiber of my being. I do not blame you for anything that has been done to you. I am in your corner. You deserve happiness and joy and you are included in my daily prayers. I love you. If there is anything I can do to support you I will.
you can email me at livingingrey@gmail.com if you need anything. it'll be anonymous.
I just wanted to take a moment and reach out because I can't imagine what you may be going through, and I want anyone and everyone to know that you are not alone.
Birthday Present!!
SO my Birthday is in a couple of months, but there is NO reason to wait until then to discuss birthday goodness. So here is my birthday Present!
Old School LA Gears.
Now I haven't gotten into this whole 80s style that's been sweeping the nation, but I LOVED my L.A. Gears, just like I loved my Grant Hills. THis is when I was into shoes and what they could do for me. I want these below. I wish there were some Hot Pink ones, and I would definitely be all over them. But these will do! Peep the OFFICIAL LA GEAR TAG!!! YES!!
Old School LA Gears.
Now I haven't gotten into this whole 80s style that's been sweeping the nation, but I LOVED my L.A. Gears, just like I loved my Grant Hills. THis is when I was into shoes and what they could do for me. I want these below. I wish there were some Hot Pink ones, and I would definitely be all over them. But these will do! Peep the OFFICIAL LA GEAR TAG!!! YES!!
In honor of the NBA Finals
I am not a sports fan. Fair weather fan at best, or a fan of the cutest players. So, given the stock in this Finals, frankly I don't give a damn, cause really, when it's all said and done, Spidey gets no ring, no bonus, no trophy, no bubbly, no hat and t-shirt, no nothing no matter who wins.
But in honor of the Basketball Fever that is shaking the nation, I would like to pay Homage to the men who actually made me watch the game. Ahhh you are thinking MJ, yeah I am a Chicago fan.. but nahhh.. Here is my NBA Honor Roll..
Why? He's fine. Look at him. :-) eh, he did Tyra wrong, but he's fine! I still mad I skipped an invitation to a party where he showed up... Womp!
Who didn't have a pair of Grant Hills back in the day? When Fila was still hot and Grant Hill was the hottest thing out. So cute and boy next door.. Ooh I loved me some Grant Hill! And He was Rookie of the Year, along with that other guy who looks too funny to make it on the list. Go Grant. And now he is still super handsome and married to one of the most underrated singers out there, Tamia. (Listen to Stranger in My House and I dare ya to disagree.
#2 Vince Carter
Just look at him... YES!!! And he can dunk!!
Gasp and Swooon.. Could I have been more in love with Penny Hardaway as a kid? I do not think so. I had both color jerseys in two different sizes so that I could be girly and cute or baggy and sporty with it. I had pictures of him up on the wall and still am jealous of the poster Enchanted had on her door. It was lifesize. All 6 feet 7 inches of that man on the wall!! He had the little Penny commercials, and I even saw wack ass Blue Chips more times than I would like to admit staring at him. ooooooh Weee.. Where is my boo now anyway?? Where for art thou Penny?
But in honor of the Basketball Fever that is shaking the nation, I would like to pay Homage to the men who actually made me watch the game. Ahhh you are thinking MJ, yeah I am a Chicago fan.. but nahhh.. Here is my NBA Honor Roll..
#5 Muggsy Bogues
He's tiny!! And in the NBA!! G0 Muggsy!!
I think he's the same height as me, just with a million times the skill.
I think he's the same height as me, just with a million times the skill.
#4 Chris Webber
Why? He's fine. Look at him. :-) eh, he did Tyra wrong, but he's fine! I still mad I skipped an invitation to a party where he showed up... Womp!#4 Grant Hill
Who didn't have a pair of Grant Hills back in the day? When Fila was still hot and Grant Hill was the hottest thing out. So cute and boy next door.. Ooh I loved me some Grant Hill! And He was Rookie of the Year, along with that other guy who looks too funny to make it on the list. Go Grant. And now he is still super handsome and married to one of the most underrated singers out there, Tamia. (Listen to Stranger in My House and I dare ya to disagree.
#2 Vince Carter
Just look at him... YES!!! And he can dunk!!
#1 Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway
Gasp and Swooon.. Could I have been more in love with Penny Hardaway as a kid? I do not think so. I had both color jerseys in two different sizes so that I could be girly and cute or baggy and sporty with it. I had pictures of him up on the wall and still am jealous of the poster Enchanted had on her door. It was lifesize. All 6 feet 7 inches of that man on the wall!! He had the little Penny commercials, and I even saw wack ass Blue Chips more times than I would like to admit staring at him. ooooooh Weee.. Where is my boo now anyway?? Where for art thou Penny?
Censorship: Why we need it.
Today I was watching the MTV Movie Awards, just for a second, and the host was that guy from SNL who does the funny skits. Jizz in my Pants. Dick in a Box.. hilarious stuff.
So they decide to use music stars (the station is called Music Television, despite the usual lack of it on the channel), to come out sing a wonderful
medley of these two tunes. I'm already cracking up.
So, Leann Rhimes and Chris Isaac sing a duet of Jizz in my Pants, in a wonderfully dramatic style. I'm super cracking up. Hilarious, so gross, but hilarious. Then they introduce... Forest "Cockeye" Whitaker to sing Dick in a Box. His not-so-great singing of Dick in a Box as a ballad was hilarious too. Even better, they aren' t even bleeping the word DICK. hahaha it.. It's my Dick in a Box!
YES! I love it when the channels get all racy, late at night when grown folks are watching..
Boom. Bubble burst, and Spidey is disgusted because.. guess what.. its only 9:45 am. Children young and old are sitting in their living rooms, still in love with the newness of summer vacation and now they will be humming, or worse, singing Dick in a Box throughout their homes, or doing their chores. And once you are past the age of 8, I dont think its any mystery what "dick" is slang for.
Now, I realize I am getting old.. I for one didnt really care when Janet booby was out on CBS... and I am completely against burning books and that sorta thing, I think that everyone should have a chance to make the music, movies, cartoons, books, that they want... but shouldn't there be guidelines on when it can be broadcast of the waves? Or is that all parental responsibility?
Your thoughts?? Yay or nay to TV censorship?
And is anyone else perturbed by "I wish I could **** every girl in the world" being on the radio? I am. Maybe I already blogged about it, if so. Consider me seconding myself!
Current (and not so current) Events
So I figure I would give my thoughts on some recent and not so recent ongoings in this country.
1. Chris Brown and Rihanna: I'm so sick of women beating women and women saying things like "but you know island women are crazy," "you don't know what she did," "women do be doing dumb shit sometimes, you never know" I mean I'm crazy too... and I have little cousins who are crazy, and even if they ran off at the mouth at me and hit me.. I would be dead wrong to make those kinds of marks on their faces. Based on brute strength alone, a man need not for any reason or with any exception attack anyone like that. I hope his crazy ass is in counseling.. And I hope that Rihanna is getting the help she needs to avoid battered women's syndrome.
2. Supreme Court nomination. Go Obama! Sotomayor is the bomb. Well I don't know her, but I can imagine that given her experiences in life and on the bench she will be a breath of fresh air. No more Alito or Scalia or Thomas drowning out sense and liberty and civil rights. I don't want a strict constructionist of the constutition. I want someone who understands that with changing times, we must look into the spirit of the law understanding that there are so many issues that we face nowadays that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined in 1787. Also, someone who recognizes that the fact that the laws of this country was created by all white men who promulgated egregious institutions like slavery, means that we have a lot of leeway in making sure that we are all ready free.
3. Tot Mom; Over it
4. Economy: Damn! Damn! Damn! I feel like Florida when she got that telegram. what the hell is going on. I am finally at the point of understanding the root causes of the recession and the credit crisis and all of that. What I don't understand is where my damn tax dollars are going if GM is still laying off EVERYBODY and dealerships are closing, and credit card companies are hiking up rates and I really just want to shake every person in a corner office and tell them.. You, sir/madam, suck! You suck because you have pillaged the people of the United States with your unfair practices and now you are robbing us through stimulus funds. It's like the guy who comes to fix your plumbing, gives a low estimate, breaks more shit instead of fixing the problem and THEN makes you pay more to fix the stuff he broke. Then you realize he was damn liar and nothing was broken in the first place till he came into your crib, and you could have unclogged the drain with a plunger. Damn.
5. Grade Inflation is up and actual knowledge is going down! Congrats No Child Left Behind, but in other news my principal said that our test scores were pretty good. Between 89=91 per cent of students in 7th grade passed the CRCT YES! These are preliminary scores, but I can't wait to break it down for myself.
6. I am not one for censorship, but I do think it is problematic that musicians are not forced to create CLEAN versions of their songs.. I mean, I don't want my child listening to an edited version of these nasty ass songs. Let's take Weezy.. He is a huge problem.. but the idea that you would release a song with the hook "I wish I could fuck every girl in the world" and your solution to clean it up for the radio is to say "I wish I could ..... every girl in the world" That is simply unacceptable. Because each generation IS getting dumber and dumber, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what NASTY word goes in there and what that means.
Ick. clearly i am getting old! We need more euphemism in our songs though.
7. American Idol blows. I'm glad Adam didn't win.
8. Lots of blogs suck. ha.
1. Chris Brown and Rihanna: I'm so sick of women beating women and women saying things like "but you know island women are crazy," "you don't know what she did," "women do be doing dumb shit sometimes, you never know" I mean I'm crazy too... and I have little cousins who are crazy, and even if they ran off at the mouth at me and hit me.. I would be dead wrong to make those kinds of marks on their faces. Based on brute strength alone, a man need not for any reason or with any exception attack anyone like that. I hope his crazy ass is in counseling.. And I hope that Rihanna is getting the help she needs to avoid battered women's syndrome.
2. Supreme Court nomination. Go Obama! Sotomayor is the bomb. Well I don't know her, but I can imagine that given her experiences in life and on the bench she will be a breath of fresh air. No more Alito or Scalia or Thomas drowning out sense and liberty and civil rights. I don't want a strict constructionist of the constutition. I want someone who understands that with changing times, we must look into the spirit of the law understanding that there are so many issues that we face nowadays that the Founding Fathers could not have imagined in 1787. Also, someone who recognizes that the fact that the laws of this country was created by all white men who promulgated egregious institutions like slavery, means that we have a lot of leeway in making sure that we are all ready free.
3. Tot Mom; Over it
4. Economy: Damn! Damn! Damn! I feel like Florida when she got that telegram. what the hell is going on. I am finally at the point of understanding the root causes of the recession and the credit crisis and all of that. What I don't understand is where my damn tax dollars are going if GM is still laying off EVERYBODY and dealerships are closing, and credit card companies are hiking up rates and I really just want to shake every person in a corner office and tell them.. You, sir/madam, suck! You suck because you have pillaged the people of the United States with your unfair practices and now you are robbing us through stimulus funds. It's like the guy who comes to fix your plumbing, gives a low estimate, breaks more shit instead of fixing the problem and THEN makes you pay more to fix the stuff he broke. Then you realize he was damn liar and nothing was broken in the first place till he came into your crib, and you could have unclogged the drain with a plunger. Damn.
5. Grade Inflation is up and actual knowledge is going down! Congrats No Child Left Behind, but in other news my principal said that our test scores were pretty good. Between 89=91 per cent of students in 7th grade passed the CRCT YES! These are preliminary scores, but I can't wait to break it down for myself.
6. I am not one for censorship, but I do think it is problematic that musicians are not forced to create CLEAN versions of their songs.. I mean, I don't want my child listening to an edited version of these nasty ass songs. Let's take Weezy.. He is a huge problem.. but the idea that you would release a song with the hook "I wish I could fuck every girl in the world" and your solution to clean it up for the radio is to say "I wish I could ..... every girl in the world" That is simply unacceptable. Because each generation IS getting dumber and dumber, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what NASTY word goes in there and what that means.
Ick. clearly i am getting old! We need more euphemism in our songs though.
7. American Idol blows. I'm glad Adam didn't win.
8. Lots of blogs suck. ha.
Adult Security Blanket
This weekend I was kicking it HARD throughout the city. Open Bar parties, wild and crazy BBQs, plays and such, flows at friend's houses. I was out and about for real for real and one thing I noticed in EVERY arena was adults using their cell phones as a security blanket. Sure we all know the discomfort of standing alone at the bar or in a party when your friends are off elsewhere... sure we know that your phone has bells and whistles that have effectively antiquated boredom.. but you look like a douche, if everytime you walk from one place to another you are clicking, scrolling, touch screening something on your cell phone. You are not Jay-Z or Obama, Chertoff or Angelina Jolie. You and I both know that no one is reaching out to you THAT much that you need to be on your phone every free moment.
You are saying.. But Spidey, I have text messages, e-mails and missed calls that I have to stay on top of.. Umm NO. cause you and I both know half the time you check your e-mail its a mass message from Footlocker, the Obama campaign, Bath and Body Works or some party promoter who you are archiving anyway.. Or maybe you are updating your status message or tweeting, but that's some bs too cause you could just as easily make that comment to the real live person who is standing next to you, and get a response that is not electronic, full of actual intonation, inflection and facial expressions. You could make a real human connection.
This has just become my recent annoyance, because several times this weekend, I have looked around to talk to my friends and acquaintances and ALL of them are on their phone.. screw me for thinking that we would just talk to one another since we ventured outside of the house to go somewhere where people will be. Soooo the next time you automatically reach for your phone, think.. is anyone REALLy calling me, or am I just trying to stave off boredom.. if so be bored.. and then cure that boredom by talking to the person next to you. It wont kill ya.
You are saying.. But Spidey, I have text messages, e-mails and missed calls that I have to stay on top of.. Umm NO. cause you and I both know half the time you check your e-mail its a mass message from Footlocker, the Obama campaign, Bath and Body Works or some party promoter who you are archiving anyway.. Or maybe you are updating your status message or tweeting, but that's some bs too cause you could just as easily make that comment to the real live person who is standing next to you, and get a response that is not electronic, full of actual intonation, inflection and facial expressions. You could make a real human connection.
This has just become my recent annoyance, because several times this weekend, I have looked around to talk to my friends and acquaintances and ALL of them are on their phone.. screw me for thinking that we would just talk to one another since we ventured outside of the house to go somewhere where people will be. Soooo the next time you automatically reach for your phone, think.. is anyone REALLy calling me, or am I just trying to stave off boredom.. if so be bored.. and then cure that boredom by talking to the person next to you. It wont kill ya.
I Hate Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace needs to get of the Tot Mom's jock. I DARE You to turn on Nancy Grace and not find out some completely irrelevant and unimportant news about the tot mom. It will say something like "BREAKING NEWS: TOT MOM TALKS TO MAN 3 DAYS BEFORE CAYLEE GOES MISSING!!"
And what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?? Nothing.. and it has EVEN less to do with Caylee's murder or Casey's guilt. Nancy then has on 4 or 5 people.. DUMBASSes including Gloria Allred and they speculate on who this man could be: a man Casey was dating, Caylee's father (Who is Caylee's father BTW???) Somehow I don't think that a black mother with an illegitimate child who was missing would still be on ANYONE's Radar, missing, murdered or otherwise..
Pardon the aside.. they then show picture from Casey's FB and they show her drunk somewhere or in Target using a stolen credit card..
Then Nancy Grace wraps the show with pictures of her twins.. who will walk across the graduation stage when she is like 87...
Nancy Grace is NUTS!!!! :-)
And what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?? Nothing.. and it has EVEN less to do with Caylee's murder or Casey's guilt. Nancy then has on 4 or 5 people.. DUMBASSes including Gloria Allred and they speculate on who this man could be: a man Casey was dating, Caylee's father (Who is Caylee's father BTW???) Somehow I don't think that a black mother with an illegitimate child who was missing would still be on ANYONE's Radar, missing, murdered or otherwise..
Pardon the aside.. they then show picture from Casey's FB and they show her drunk somewhere or in Target using a stolen credit card..
Then Nancy Grace wraps the show with pictures of her twins.. who will walk across the graduation stage when she is like 87...
Nancy Grace is NUTS!!!! :-)
Ignorant Negroes: You MUST be stopped.
This is a new category... Of course I can name 10000s who need to be stopped, but this Inaugural Post is dedicated to all the Negros who are acting a fool cause the President is Black.
Okay, so the President is Black. I don't have a Lambo, But I'm feeling the vibe. I LOVE watching press conferences and seeing him up there, in all his professional style. I love Michelle doing her thing in the garden and at DC schools. I love seeing the First family on Ebony and Essence. There is almost nothing to NOT love about the President being Black...
Except ignorant ass Black people who continually disrespect the president in ways we would NEVER accept from white folks (like that damn "Barack the Magic Negro") So people need to take this opportunity to step their game up.. instead of mixing our president up with liquor and sex...
Ignorant Negro #1: P. Diddy
Crime: Two words, Ciroc Obama!!
You must be kidding me... did you really just comingle my warm and fuzzy feelings for my Black President with your vodka brand??? Hell to the naw. And it came out of nowhere.. Screaming it out on a damn Day 26 song for goodness sakes. Not even a hit.. some dumb shit by a Band that still hasn't quite Made it! You's a nigga for that one P. that's some serious Bitchassness if you ask me. His name does NOT belong on your labels, like it shouldn't be on a gas station or chicken palace.
And on to Public Enemy Number 1:
Juelz Santana
Who? right, yeah i forgot he existed too...Anyway...
Crime: "Treat you like the first lady, put my Barack in ya."
Come on Juelz, you were already a damn lame. You sucked before you came at the president like that.. so why don't you go ahead and sit your bandana wearing ass down... and you can say that shit in the booth, but you know DAMN well that you wouldn't say that shit to his face, and that is why you, Juelz, suck.
So, P and Jue, you must stop mixing up disrespect and giving props, cause they are not one n the same. Just like "baddest bitch," and "wifey" aren't compliments...Consider yourselves warned.
Okay, so the President is Black. I don't have a Lambo, But I'm feeling the vibe. I LOVE watching press conferences and seeing him up there, in all his professional style. I love Michelle doing her thing in the garden and at DC schools. I love seeing the First family on Ebony and Essence. There is almost nothing to NOT love about the President being Black...
Except ignorant ass Black people who continually disrespect the president in ways we would NEVER accept from white folks (like that damn "Barack the Magic Negro") So people need to take this opportunity to step their game up.. instead of mixing our president up with liquor and sex...
Ignorant Negro #1: P. Diddy
Crime: Two words, Ciroc Obama!!
You must be kidding me... did you really just comingle my warm and fuzzy feelings for my Black President with your vodka brand??? Hell to the naw. And it came out of nowhere.. Screaming it out on a damn Day 26 song for goodness sakes. Not even a hit.. some dumb shit by a Band that still hasn't quite Made it! You's a nigga for that one P. that's some serious Bitchassness if you ask me. His name does NOT belong on your labels, like it shouldn't be on a gas station or chicken palace.
And on to Public Enemy Number 1:
Juelz Santana
Who? right, yeah i forgot he existed too...Anyway...
Crime: "Treat you like the first lady, put my Barack in ya."
Come on Juelz, you were already a damn lame. You sucked before you came at the president like that.. so why don't you go ahead and sit your bandana wearing ass down... and you can say that shit in the booth, but you know DAMN well that you wouldn't say that shit to his face, and that is why you, Juelz, suck.
So, P and Jue, you must stop mixing up disrespect and giving props, cause they are not one n the same. Just like "baddest bitch," and "wifey" aren't compliments...Consider yourselves warned.