What a Trip!

My thoughts on . . . well, pretty much everything.

I’m back and catching up . . . December 29, 2007

Filed under: Family, Holidays — jden723 @ 1:39 am

Well another holiday season is on its way out.  Am I the only one who feels like it just crept up and really wasn’t all that holiday-ish.  Maybe part of it is that I had surgery right after Thanksgiving or maybe that my son brought home his progress report last Friday before Christmas.   Who knows, maybe its because I just took out my weave and I think I may need to shave my head because after washing and conditioning it repeatedly, it is now has one giant dreadlock in the back that won’t come out.  Whatever it is, I am feeling a little funky.

 

 

You know you’re too old to party when . . . December 28, 2007

Filed under: Friends — jden723 @ 9:09 pm

An ambulance needs to be called to take you to the hospital for your heart after coming down the soul train line! 

Ok, its official.  When I turn 40, my family, friends, etc. are taking a trip cause either we are too dayum old to party or there was a full moon Saturday night.   For real ya’ll.  (Ok, I sounded a little like Brittany there.  LOL!) 

Anywhoo . . .   Saturday I attended my girl’s 40th b-day party (shout out to R.H.H.). 

And it was a doozy.  As I mentioned before, I have been recuperating from a health situation myself, so since I wasn’t dancing like I normally would, I had an opportunity to do one of my favorite things, people watch and talk trash.  LOL!  About midway through the party, “Flashlight” starts playing, and you know what had to happen.   You guessed it, a Soul Train line.  So, the birthday girl leads off coming down the line doing a “Wop/Prep/Robot” combo.  The guests soon follow doing all the old school dances that have everybody hollering.  So down comes the heart patient, Freda Sanford (lets call her FS for short).  I remember thinking what kind of “Elizabeth I’m coming” nonsense is she doing.  At the end of the line where I was standing was a couch.  FS sits down and within a few seconds starts making ugly faces and clutching her chest.  One or two ladies start attending to her and looking for her purse.  (Of course, no one knows what the heck it looked like)  Meanwhile, I am thinking, “Oh here we go, a drama queen.”  The next thing I know someone calls 911.  Mind you, the party hasn’t stopped.  No men were paying attention and the birthday girl and others were still getting their part on.   A party guest just happened to be an MD, he was alerted and subsequently waited outside for the ambulance with her.  (Isn’t it wonderful how we have evolved as a people.  Someone can say is there a doctor in the house and one is actually there.  LOL!)  She goes away in an ambulance and is actually kept at the hospital.   

Other notables that suggest maybe the partying needs to stop:

***We did not notice that the husband of the birthday girl left.  He followed the ambulance to the hosp[ital.  ater when the party was ending and we noticed that he wasn’t there for cake cutting, etc.  He was contacted and we found out that he was trying to get back but a hostage situation outside of the hospital was preventing his return! 

***Earlier in the evening a nosy guest decided to check out the media room down the hall by walking in the room instead of just glancing in from the hall like everyone else.  She fell down the stairs into the room and busted her azz.  She laid there on the floor until another party guest found her while walking by on the way to the rest room. 

***And finally, another guest was late after leaving a wedding where the bride’s baby brother proposed to his baby momma on the dance floor during the reception.  (Gosh I hate it when people try to steal other people’s thunder.)  And that event was topped by two guests being held at gunpoint in the reception hall!   

Stop the madness . . . no more parties!!!!

 

“Friday” the Animated Series December 20, 2007

Filed under: TV — jden723 @ 10:33 pm

I just don’t know what to say . . . (shaking my head)

 

Oh Lawd, say it ain’t so!!!! December 19, 2007

Filed under: Family, My social commentary, Pop Culture, TV — jden723 @ 6:04 pm

Poor little Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.  The world has stopped turning on its axis, pestilence and famine are soon to follow, the fourth horseman of the apocolypse can be seen in the distance . . . oh the humanity!!!

Hmmm, let me see if I have my facts right here.  She’s 16 and living, working, and partying in Hollywood with little parental supersvision and control.  She is on a hit cable show with money of her own (Also known as, I can do what I want and you can’t tell me Sugar Honey Iced Tea because I make my own money up in here.).  She has additional disposable income and opportunites for everything (good and bad) because her sister rakes in literally millions per month.  The parents have shown questionable judgment, note the image and antics of the aforementioned unnamed sister from the very beginning of her pop career.  She reports being with this “boyfriend”for over 2 years.  Do the math, what active parent thinks that crap is ok, especially when based on the guy’s originally reported age of 19, this mess started when she was 14 and he was 17?  Where is the prosecutor who went after Genarlow Wilson?  Did I mention that she only just told her mother 12 weeks into the situation upon being contacted by OK magazine?

But here is a more important question?  Why do we care?  So many young ladies with far less resources at their disposal “find themselves” in this situation and no one is worried about what will happen to them.  No one cares how their familes or other young ladies they encounter might be impacted.  Their pregnancies don’t spark a debate on whether they should lose their livelihood.  And folks, as far as I am concerned, school is their livelihood and girls get thrown out/re-directed to “special programs” everyday in this country.    I assume, based on Lisa Bloom’s (Court TV anchor, also Gloria Allred’s daughter) vehement defense of Jamie Lynn’s job this afternoon on Star Jones and her easily dismissing the notion that this could violate her morals clause with Nickelodeon, that folks are already gearing up to be on the offensive. 

Now, I don’t consider myself to be conservative or prudish (not that I would apologize if I were) but why wouldn’t it violate her morals clause?  She is a teenager on a network that is geared towards kids and teens, whose primary focus is children’s programing, family friendly programming, and education.  Now, as an avid tv watcher and mom, I have certainly seen my fair share of Nickelodeon.  Do they meet the above-mentioned aims perfectly all the time?  No.  But they can certainly try.  And if she does have a morals clause in place (there is like 0% chance that she doesn’t.  LOL!), as an attorney,  would have no problem defending their right to enforce it under these circumstances.  Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t subscribe to the philosophy that little blond girls all over America are going to run and get knocked up because “Zoey” did.  I would like to give our children AND their parents more credit than that.  By the way, I also don’t believe in abstinence only programs either.  Knowledge is power.  Ignorance kills.  While I am using clichés, actions have consequences.  If your job depends on your image or the one you are supposed to promote (as with most television personalities – hence, the morality clauses), you know what you are supposed to do and if you screw that up too bad. 

Right now, her show is reportedly the #1 show on the network and from what I understand, the new season has already been filmed and waiting “in the can”.  The network doesn’t have to care about your children and families.  So, if after they do a little market analysis and guage the public reaction to this, they feel they can maintain their advertisers and viewers, then Zoey 101 will be back and they may even negotiate with her for a post baby, post-pregnancy weight season. 

In the meantime, donate your time or goods to a local program for teen mothers who really need our resources and attention.

 

My own future ANTM! December 18, 2007

Filed under: Uncategorized — jden723 @ 6:37 pm

addison-poses12_16.jpg

She can’t walk yet, heck she barely tries to crawl, but the girl can pose!  LOL!

(taken with a picture phone)

 

She did what? December 18, 2007

Filed under: Pop Culture, TV — jden723 @ 12:36 pm

I was so speechless, I couldn’t even type!!! 

Should I be surprised?  I was literally sitting with my mouth wide open when NY (Tiffany Pollard) made her final decision.  I mean granted, she wasn’t going to last with anyone, she is certifiable.  (not to mention skanky, cartoonish figure, pre-op transexual looking, obnoxious, and kinda stupid – so much for that Syracuse education) 

Budda clearly has issues and wants to be famous in the absolute worst way.  LOL!  But tailor made?  He’s shiny, weird, punkish, balding, the list goes on . . . and like Missy, I wonder about his “tendencies.”  And hellooooo, he is married – I am trying not to comment on the fact that she looks . . . well, I will leave it alone. 

I don’t even know if its even worth getting deep with all this.  Like talking about how “other” dating shows wouldn’t have had a married man on it or how he just happened to have access to the outside world to order things to illustate how she could be purchased.  We all pretty much had a good idea of what we were getting when we started watching.  Should I even mention how Darth Vader, I’m sorry I meant Sister Patterson, looked this season and how she carried on 10 times worse than NY on her worst day?  Ok, she did have a great moment last night when she slapped the crap out of Tailormade.  I turned back my tivo like 5 times and hollered. 

It was pretty much a letdown.  I don’t know what I was looking for otherwise, but that was just weird.  By the way, I wonder if she really did sleep with Buddha the night before.  Hmmmmmm

 

TV Tramp Week! Are you watching? December 17, 2007

Filed under: Pop Culture, TV — jden723 @ 2:20 pm

Tonight NY (Tiffany Pollard) makes her decision on I Love NY 2 between Budda and TailorMade.  Tomorrow Tila Tequila decides between . . . well, I don’t even know what.

I hate to admit it, but I will be there (I am way to old for this.  LOL!)  Will you?

And yes, I will do that and manage to watch/TIVO Clash of the Choirs.  What the heck am I going to do when I am back on my feet and back to real life, work, activities, etc.?  My tivos will not be able to function at such an advanced level, I may have to sacrafice some shows . . .  omg!  I really do need a 12 step program for my tv watching.

 

Christmas is next week, what are you most looking forward to? December 17, 2007

Filed under: Holidays — jden723 @ 2:13 pm

xmas-candle.jpg

Ok, besides the day off.

Since I have been stuck in the house for weeks recovering, I am really just looking forward to a change in routine and Christmas dinner of course!

 

Ike Turner is Dead. December 13, 2007

Filed under: Pop Culture — jden723 @ 7:25 pm

My favorite headline so far:  “Ike Turner Beats Tina to the Grave.”

 

Even if you’ve got it, when it comes to your kids, do you flaunt it? December 13, 2007

Filed under: Family, My social commentary, Pop Culture, TV — jden723 @ 7:05 pm

In light of what I have discussed the past couple of days regarding family dysfunction when resources are apparently limited; I thought I’d add to the discussion a look from the other side. 

I am sure many of you have seen or at least heard of shows like “My Super Sweet 16”, “Platinum Brides” (sometimes the bride and groom have money in their own right but many parents are still paying), “Daddy’s Spoiled Little Girl”, and if you haven’t heard of the latest little gem I found last night “Party Mamas”, check that one out too (WE network).   

 **link to show site:   http://www.slice.ca/Shows/ShowsPage.aspx?Root_Title_ID=105449 

Sometimes the excesses on these shows gets so out of control, I literally have to cover my eyes or change the channel for a while.  And let’s face it folks, I will watch pretty much anything.  Its not just the bling that can be out there, I mean heck there are things that only people of a certain income level can buy, and they use THEIR money to buy it.   (The most recent girl’s grandfather invented Spam, so Lawd knows they have the cash for bling!)    It’s the over the top attitudes, temper tantrums, mature themes (one 16 year old “sweetheart” had a sin theme – yes folks, the seven deadly ones), sexy dresses, potty mouths, and a lack of respect for their parents, “friends”, employees and whomever else crosses their paths that are excesses that should not be tolerated just because of wealth and privilege. 

And “Party Mamas” is about the out of control parents who push good taste and decorum to the limits in the name of having the best blowout that money can buy for their little “angels”.  In this case though, the “Mamas” are determined to be the stars of the party.  On a recent episode, one mother expressed dismay that her son would be the center of attention at his own bar mitzvah and set out to upstage him by taking singing and dancing lessons.  Thank goodness, she didn’t upstage him with her talent, but she will certainly end up being the talk of the town for her lack of it.  Either way the kid still loses his night to his mama.  The mother on the next episode was more concerned about her 10K worth of Halloween decorations being blown down than she was about her stepson totally the car by hitting a tree down the street.  The same stepson also insisted on carrying an authentic looking 9mm BB gun to the party despite protests from everyone including both parents.

When these people watch themselves on these shows are they proud of themselves?  Does it bother them that their kid’s greatest aspiration in life is to be the Paris Hilton or Brandon Davis of Memphis, TN?  Did the mother who’s daughter called her everything but a child of God and all but fell out on the floor when screaming about how her party was ruined because her mother presented her with a custom luxury vehicle the day before the party instead of at the party wonder, “Where the heck did I go wrong, and how can I make this right?”  These are the snot-nosed brats setting the standard for what’s hot and what’s not among American teens?  Sadly, as much as we want to say, “Oh hell no, I teach my kids strong family values, and the value of a dollar,” and the like, our kids are still susceptible as well.  Sure, we can SAY we do the things I just mentioned but then we also do things like run right out and spend way more than we can afford for Christmas on a kid that didn’t even bring home good grades.  (I’m guilty too here, I’ll own it.)  And we not only allow our children to go to the parties, but also turn around and subconsciously find ourselves competing with them when planning our own. 

What do they have to look forward to?  And what will their expectations be?  Can you meet them and if so, then what?  As the young man said last night after his Bar Mitzvah, “I’m sad that its over . . .   And now what, do I count down to my wedding?”

Last year, the young lady across the street from me was having a pretty blinged out Quinceanera (Hispanic15 year old becomes a woman).  Per custom she had the big dress and a full court with girls in matching dresses and boys in top hats and tails (looked like a wedding party).  There was a full camera crew outside with still photographers, video team, boom mikes, the whole deal.  I really did think they were filming for MTV.  Did I mention the stretch hummer?  Anywhoo, I sat on my porch with my baby watching the spectacle unfold, when one of these little angels said nice and loud for my benefit, “MMMMMM, your neighbors are nosy as hell.”  Are you kidding me?!  You are standing on the street at twelve noon looking like a bunch of well dressed clowns about to climb into that hummer monstrosity with a full camera crew and your grown a$$ has the nerve to disrespect an adult you don’t know for looking at you?!  When I was growing up any of my grandmother’s neighbors could have smacked you in the mouth for that.  Now, you get a party.