I'll Be Seeing Poppies After All

IMG_0146,
originally uploaded by Shavonne.

I was almost worried that the lack of rain this winter would mean no poppies to photograph. But, it's been raining and raining hard and I'm happy about that because I love green or any color besides tan or brown and plants other than tumbleweeds. I can't wait until the poppy festival.

That's all for now. Enjoy the picture.

G-d, Please Save Me From Your Followers

Christianity, Judaism, Islam and any other religion I’m too lazy to mention are 24-hour, 7-days-a-week religions and lifestyles. They are not a part time gigs! If you’re Christian, you don’t believe part of what the Bible says, you believe the whole book, not this verse or that passage, but whole thing from cover to cover!

I’ve been told I should go to church. Why? So I can learn to be deviant? I have no respect for religious institutions whose members fail to conduct themselves in the manner the religion says they should. The day I meet a real Christian or Jew or Muslim, is the day I’ll become one.

So on Sunday or Friday or whatever day you “worship”, remind your Pastor, Priest, Rabbi, Imam, or Reverend to remind the congregation that their religion is also their lifestyle.

The end.

The Olympics

When I was at the dentist getting my oral pearls look at, I had the opportunity to check out Curling. I think Finland beat Canada or at least they were in the lead. I don't have much to say about it other than I think it's the dumbest fricken sport on the planet (besides cheerleading).

Madea's Family Reunion

I went to see it today. There was a whole lot of slapping in the movie. I actually felt the very first slap. I love grits, especially mixed with scrambled eggs and cheese. Are all successful and wealthy men in Atlanta assholes?

Blog Themes

There's really no theme to my blog. I write about what I don't want to keep in my head. My apologies for being inconsiderate. I know you don't want to read crap all the time. I certainly don't.

But someone brought it to my attention that I'm always writing about being single. It's kind of hard not to write about being single. No one lets me forget. I just hope I don't whine and sound all bitter about it because I've come across some bloggers that do and it makes me want to slap the poo out of them.

I had a talk with my Army buddy from Atlanta, Georgia who's stationed in Italy. I've mentioned her before in my blog; she was the one that was dating a white boy. You know, caucasian. European descent. Not light skinned but white like Toby Maguire. Bare with me, I still don't really believe it.

I love talking on the phone with my Army buddy. She always says something brilliant like

"Why do Italian women give up their birthright to live like black women?"

Damn. Wow. See what I mean? She's noticed many unwedded or single Italian woman raising brown-sugar babies (biracial). I don’t know why Italian women would want a Nigerian that can’t get a decent job because he’s not a citizen or a black American GI over a family-oriented and established Italian man. (I wish she would start a blog already so I can read about her experiences and observations about Europe!!) If you would like to read about her experiences please leave a comment on my blog so I can email them to her. We might be able to convince her to start blogging.

Anyway, I'm planning a two-week trip to Italy for September. Hopefully in those two weeks, I’ll get to see a lot more than Italy. I don’t plan on sleeping at all while I’m there. Would you?

Got Gmail?

I've got 100 invites to google's email service gmail. I've been using gmail for almost two years now and I love it. I have over 2 GB of storage and the people at google as added an IM service to gmail. I've tried all the email providers and I have to say that gmail is the best. If you're interested in opening an account, just shoot me an email and I will send you an invite.

Men Often Wonder....

I used to have a membership with match.com. I don't know why I joined, oh wait I do, my friend joined and told me it's a great way to meet men from outside the Antelope Valley. So I gave it a try.

I got plenty of responses but I think it had something to do with my screen name and picture.

One guy in particular could not fathom that I could be single and really wanted to know how/why I've remained single for so long. So I told him the truth:

Why am I still single? I don’t really have an answer to that. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because I’m a Davis. My grandmother died recently, and at her funeral I saw family that I hadn’t seen in a while. The one thing I noticed is that all the women related to me by blood, were single. Though my grandmother was married for over 50 years, she and my grandfather were separated for like 49 of those years (grandpa was a rolling stone). He was around long enough to make a baby (six babies), and then he’d split.

My mom and her two sisters, all single. All of my female cousins (with the exception of one who’s last name was changed when she was a child) are single. And I’m still single.

I don’t know if there’s really a curse, but after four generations, it seems the need for a man has been bred out of us or something.

Then there’s the fact that I haven’t met a guy that could make me happier than I’ve managed to make myself. I hope this has answered your question.

I never heard from him again. (I can't believe I'm cracking up right now. It really isn't funny.) When I think about the women in my family, it's very tragic. To think the actions of one lousy man could effect my mom and her sisters, me and my cousins, and even my cousins children to the point that we can't trust men.

My grandmother raised six children by herself. My mom and her sisters, never actually said it, but I know they thought it when they were with the fathers of their children...

Let's just skip the life together.
You're going to leave me anyway.
Give me your sperm. Thanks!
Now be on your way.

That's the real issue with the Davis women. They've never seen a proper male/female relationship. They've never seen a marriage were there was devotion between a man and woman and a commitment to not only raising a family but keeping it together and functional. That's why I'm still single.

Breaking Ties

I was supposed to meet the Asian guy on Saturday but I called him Friday night and told him I wouldn't make it. My number one reason for telling him hanging out would be impossible was because of school and my second reason was just because I didn't have the desire to. I don't think he got it though. He kept asking if my schedule would always be that way and I told him my schedule didn't matter because I didn't have the desire to try to get to know him better.

I know what you're thinking Why did you string him along? I didn't. He contacted me first (via email) after having viewed my profile which clearly stated I was not looking for romance, dating, one-night stands, serious relationships, or swinging action-just friends and networking. There was never any intention for romance on my part and I even told him that in an email. He, however, believed eventually people would develop feelings after spending time together. I told him it was possible but I doubted I would develop feelings since I wasn't in the right mindset.

Since our first phone conversation, I had been holding off telling him I wasn't interested in him romantically. I kept thinking about how I would tell him over and over in my head and feeling really guilty. I don't know why either. I think it was because I should have nipped our communication after his first email to me. Sorry Bud, but you're looking for long-term relationship and I'm not. We're not compatible. Good luck in your search.

I thought I would be feeling guilty but I'm not. I actually feel five pounds lighter and emotionally happier since Friday night. I will never put off something like this ever again. It's too much of an emotional drain.

The New Look

What do you think? I'm not done with it. The rest of the things I'm going to change will happen over time. I would like to change my fonts and move my profile to the left side (so I can change my pic) but make the box go all the way across to the right. I'd also like to make my picture bigger.

What do your eyes gravitate to first? It is everything easy to read? What about the color scheme? Are the colors too busy?


*UPDATE*
I've moved my profile and changed the picture.

Something New

I actually saw Something New the Friday it came out and I enjoyed it very much. Though I'm not looking for any kind of relationship, it was nice to see a black woman, even if it was fictional, find some lovin.

With that said, I think I will work on rearranging some elements of my blog.

The Boss

Today my boss asked about my love life. It really isn't none of her business but I knew why she wanted to know. She's not very happy being married. Her husband works long hours and is rarely at home. She figured with me being single that I would have something good to report.

Sadly I didn't but I wished I had made up some tall tale of how I met some goodlooking and smart studmuffin at a bar somewhere and then took him home to have a night of wild hot sweaty sex. But I didn't because that would have been lying but it would have given me a chance to make up a great story. Dang. Another missed opportunity. That's alright though. She'll be asking again.

Happy Single Awareness Day!!

I'm single and aware of it. Now you're aware of it and you know what else? I'm happy about it.

I Hate Dating

After exchanging emails and a couple of phone calls, I decided to meet the Asian guy. He wanted to meet in a bar but since I don’t drink I suggested we meet at the Getty Center on Saturday.

Like our phone conversations, our first meeting was very boring and almost juvenile.

There's nothing that turns me off more than a man that has nothing to talk about but his job. Now I know what you're thinking, "Girl you better be glad he got a job." Most of these men I've met men earned six-figure salaries and there was a reason why-they were workaholics. But this Asian guy I've been communicating with doesn't have an interesting job, nor does he make a six-figure salary. He went from working in the tech industry, to being a plumber, to doing temp work (as in secretary-type temp work). Which is why I said our phone conversations seemed juvenile. He's a 32-year-old who doesn't seem to have many goals for his life, which is surprising since he’s Asian.

I don’t think he enjoyed the Getty Center. I love art and when I find a piece I particularly like, I’ll look at for as long as it takes for me to discover every detail of that artwork. He would glance at something then walk on to the next piece. On top of that, when I tried to talk about a couple of the pieces with him, he would make inappropriate jokes then start giggling like a bitch like the jokes were funny. (What’s with men and bitch giggling?!!)

I've been faced with making a decision between a guy that I'm dating and my job or school or just about anything that makes me independent. A couple of weeks into dating, my valentine from last year expected me to call in sick to work just to spend a Thursday or Friday (his only days off) with him. Did I ever do it? Hell no! I've got bills to pay, places I like to go, people I like to see, and things I would like to do and my job is my source of income to do those things.

Considering the fact that I'll be starting grad school in two weeks, why would I want to continue to communicate with this guy? I mean, my nights and weekends will be about keeping my grades up because my job is paying (100% for tuition and books) for me to go to school.

I don’t expect a man to take of me nor am I a feminist. I would like to get married but I don’t like the statistics on it. I would love to have children but I don’t want to pay someone else to raise them. It just seems like if I wanted the things I just mentioned I would have to give it to myself or not have them at all. Asian guy is not promising prospect. And I’m not physically attracted to him. He’s a lot shorter than his profile said. I don’t do short men because they usually have tall tempers.

I guess I will be using my grad student status to get out dating this guy. I don’t time or the desire. Plus I haven’t gotten over the Undercova Brotha movie thing.

Firewall

I went to see Firewall starring Harrison Ford this weekend. I don't have much to say about the movie other than the fact that you can't put 10,000 songs on an iPod mini. How lazy of the writers of this movie!! Couldn't they have done some research? How could they use a popular MP3 player like the iPod and not spend the three minutes it would take to find out the song capacity for the different models?

Supporting the Troops

I read blogs of all kinds, especially political blogs. I can’t help it. I like them. They happen to be my favorite. It doesn’t matter if they are conservative or liberal or whether I agree with them or not, just as long as the quality of the writing is good.

Being an Army veteran, I tend to get a little more sensitive when I read those so called patriotic blogs claiming to support the troops. Usually the bloggers that write these blogs do everything but support the troops. They spend most of their time bitching about the mainstream media (MSM) and liberal this conservative that, blah, blah, blah but in reality the only people that truly support the troops are the troops.

Take for instance the issue they have about the MSM. Both liberal and conservative bloggers (but mostly conservative) spend more time bitching about how the media never produce feel-good stories about the troops. I agree there should more coverage about the troops other than their deaths, but the media is out to make money and the top two headlines will always be about death and where peopleÂ’s tax money is going.

Now I’m not going to name names but one particular blogger wrote about how the troops weren’t honored during the Superbowl. I didn’t watch the Superbowl so I wouldn’t know about this. But what caught my eye was that this blogger was bitching the whole time-media this liberal that-she couldn’t even get the name of American Forces Network (AFN) right. She called it Armed Services Network. Urghh!!!

What is AFN? Well, it is a network that’s run by troops for the troops in Japan, Korea, Europe, Iraq, and if I’m not mistaken, Honduras, too. The network produces radio and television newscast as well as providing American tv shows like C.S.I, American Idol, and other popular tv shows to troops and their families stationed around the world. All AFN news can be viewed on the internet at www.pentagonchannel.com and on the Pentagon channel.

I get really angry when I read or hear someone comment on what the MSM is not doing especially when stories about the troops are readily available over the internet and on the Pentagon Channel. I know this because I was once a broadcast journalist for the Army and I also worked at AFN Korea. If people really wanted to know what the troops were doing, the information is literally just a click of a mouse away.

I’m pretty much done complaining. And look for links to websites maintained by America forces serving their country from around the world on my blog.

Houseplants

A coworker gave me two houseplants a few months ago. Both are flowering houseplants which produce a pretty Lilly-like flower. The larger plant is flourishing and has two new white flowers. The smaller, however, is not doing so well.

Two weeks ago I watered both plants before leaving for work in the morning. When I came home the larger plant had perked right up, the smaller plant was still drooping. When I checked the soil, it was still quite moist. In fact there was a little bit of water in the drain tray which meant the plant wasn't absorbing the water. So I stopped watering it the last two weeks.

When I got the plants my first instinct was to replant the smaller one because it was in a burgunday ceramic self-watering pot and I don't like self-watering pots or burgundy. But since it was winter, I convinced myself to wait until spring. Boy was that a mistake.

When I pulled the plant out of the pot the soil was hard and very wet and there were a lot of rotting roots. I had to scrap away the dirt and rotten roots, which isn't easy because the sight of plant roots make me want throw up.

On top of that I had to go out and buy new potting soil, river rocks, a plastic pot, and drip trays all totaling around 20 bucks.

I'm just really pissed off at myself for wasting 3 hours and 20 bucks trying to save a plant that probably won't live. I wasted my time, my money, and made myself nauseous when I could have just taken my money and bought new plants.

Smartbargains

I've discovered I have a love for shopping, at least shopping on the internet. I recently bought this fantabulous dress a Smartbargains. I'm so excited! It's all a part of a makeover I've decided to be one of my New Year's resolutions. It will give me a reason to shave my legs and get a man, well at least shave my legs. But the good thing is since this dress goes to my knees I will only have to shave just above my knees! Pretty swell, huh?

Asian guy called me last night but we didn't talk very long because I was practically comatose. Why do people call after 8 p.m.? Now I'm usually up until 10 p.m. surfing the net and working on my book but last night I really needed some extra sleep so I was in bed by 9.

Oh yeah, my point. He has a nice voice. Not the kind that would make me masturbate or forgo my celibacy but just good enough to make me want to talk to him again when I'm actually awake.

Posting

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. I vowed never to go longer than a week but unfortunately my high speed wireless internet is down. I could get on the Dell but I absolutely hate Dells and dial-up is too dang slow. I love my Mac.

In the last week I've decided to go back to grad school. I'll be starting February 24th. Great huh? I want to get it out of the way before I'm in my thirties then no more school for me unless it's ceramics or basket weaving.

*Love Update*
I've been communicating with the Asian guy via email. Tonight, however, I decided it was time to give him my phone number. I hope he has a great voice. I'd like him to sound like he's got some hair on his chest. We will probably meet up Valentine's Day weekend. I would like to go to the Getty Center. I hope he likes this idea. I've been dying to go since it opened back in the day. Plus, it would be more interesting than dinner and a movie and I think a little more romantic in an artsy fartsy kind of way.

I haven't seen or heard from Dilbert in two weeks. I had planned on inviting him out to dinner and telling him I couldn't date him anymore but it seems he quit his job and didn't tell anyone at work he was planning on leaving. Since he didn't say goodbye I'm taking that as his way of saying a final goodbye. All is well.

So that's it. That's all there is. Oh, and I didn't meet my 50,000 word goal for January. But hey, I still have a 250,000 word goal I'm definitely going to meet for the year.