Friendship: Evolution (Perhaps Incoherent Thoughts of the Graduated State)

We all came as just one. Then you found someone.

You maybe started off cautiously, with trips together to the cafeteria. You bond over bitching about a teacher. You grow together as you run an organization and cram for tests.

There were false starts (but the engine soon roars to life). You have a running buddy, a roll-dawg (and if you were lucky, a friend).

Days are filled with calls and text messages. Brunches, lunches, dunches, dinners and night caps. Convos are filled with familiar catch-phrases and inside jokes. Laughter. Pre-planning, planning, exhaling for homecoming, breaks, senior week. Hours talking about nothing, doing nothing. Conversation is about the NOW. What they are wearing. What you are going to wear. Who you want to see. Who you saw and what they said. Critical analysis, deconstruction and synthesis. Theories and application. Every once in awhile, glimpses into the soul – (admirations and faults). Nevertheless, in a true sense its comfort and belonging.

Then, individually you must reenter the world (devoid).




No longer do they run each party by you. Pics, in outfits you’ve never seen with people you’ve never met. More and more you shop (alone), you eat (alone), you chill (alone). You meet new people, and may or may not fill them in.

Life is maybe … awkward.

Conversation no longer seamlessly streams the moments apart. There is much more going on, more than you can realize over a cable line. Silences aren’t the same. Change is good. But its always nicer to be a part of the change, to see the change (to change together).

The relationship is maybe just imprint of what was left behind, or a shadow slowly fading in the sun. Bone with no meat. (The trust is still there.) But the meat…goya, seasoning, sauce…something’s missing.

Even the strongest falter. And its hard to remember
We all came as just one.

Observations dba Puddles & White People

The forecast said rain. Rain Friday throught Monday.

And the meteorologists were right. It has rained Friday on through.

So why, now Sunday, do I see white people walking around without umbrellas? And I’m not talking about just a few. When I went to the store, I was the only person walking in and walking out with an umbrella.

They knew it was raining.

*sigh*

I guess some things aren’t meant to be understood.

Firsthand Knowledge: When crossing through large puddles, do not run. It only causes bigger splashes, wet shoes and damp jeans.

It's that HEAT...

Sergio Mendes - TIMELESS album (the remix album), produced by Will.I.Am, featuring a myriad of notables... Jill Scott, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, India.

Tired of the blase releases that fill up the pop and hip hop charts? This is it. Enough spanish to get your hips shaking, yet smooth enough to play from beginning to end.

Cop it, iTune it, whatever... I found it in the folk music section.

Groupie Luv

Sunday my friend told me that I am a Beyonce groupie…

And I fear that she is right.

I flipped through the stations on Sunday evening, and happily saw that E!'s THS of Beyonce was beginning. I had catalogued it in my mind to watch, but it was up to fate for me to really remember. So I settled in and began to watch the life story of your girl and mine, Beyonce.

I've heard the story before. The girl group Girls Tyme, singing in the hair salon, Matthew quits his job. However for some reason this show put their hard work in perspective. I never truly realized the fact they were performing wherever they could at the age of 13…I thought, "wow, they WERE serious!"

As they began to highlight they different singles.. From "No, No, No" with Wyclef to the mega pop hit "Independent Woman," I began to realize why I was such a groupie.

You see, I wasn't always a Beyonce lover. When they cut Latavia and LeToya from the group, I believed it was her family's selfishness that drove them away. Matthew was too controlling, Beyonce had too much shine. I still liked the group, but kind of was a … Beyonce hater. Yes, drinking that cup of haterade, aching to get my hateration on whenever the girl was brought up. Much how I regard Angelina Jolie now.

Sometime after Bootylicious and before the solo album, I started softening. Hooked up with Jay-Z.. I was fine with that. Then she did the damn thing: Crazy in Love. The song -- off the hook. The video -- dignified her a true diva DOIN THE DAMN THING.

But again, as I watched the THS, I realized why I truly was a fan. DC, and B by default, had always been in my life. "No, no no," was a song I bonded over with with my sisters, significant because I had just started high school and my sister was away at college. The Writings on the Wall album was the official road trip song for rides to Greensboro. "Bills" "Bugaboo" "Say My Name" were all belted off tune on rides to football games. "Independent Woman" meshed with me at the tender age of 18, as I began to view myself as a woman. Dangerously In Love, the album… summer 2003.. Wilding out with friends, with my sisters. I'll admit, I learned the dance sequence at the end of the "Crazy" video.

But basically, I can look back and remember almost a decade's worth of GOOD TIMES. If that is groupie luv… then so be it.

Randomness dba Because

BECAUSE i steal things from other people’s blogs:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Cashier at a Discount Store
2. Concession stand at the movies
3. Summer Day Camp Leader
4. Chocolatier

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Footloose
2. Coming to America
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Clueless

Four places I have lived:
(how about the first 4?)
1. Cincinnati, OH
2. Baltimore, MD
3. Honolulu, HI
4. San Francisco, CA

Four Shows I love:
1. Veronica Mars
2. Grey's Antaomy
3. ANTM
4. Everybody Hates Chris

Four books I'd recommend to anyone, anytime:
1. Invisible Life
2. The Godfather
3. Siddhartha
4. The Coldest Winter Ever

Four places I have vacationed:
1. South Beach
2. Myrtle Beach
3. Cincinnati
4. Key West

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Alfredo pasta
2. Pizza
3. Lasagna
4. Salad

Four sites I visit (almost!) daily:
1. thefacebook.com
2. blogspot.com
3. cnn.com
4. eonline.com
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BECAUSE you should know:

www.familywatchdog.us
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BECAUSE i’m bored:

http://20q.net/
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BECAUSE you’re bored:
http://www.personaldna.com/tests.php

Random Bits...

I did something ultra grown-up, ultra intellectual last weekend… I watched C-SPAN. I caught the panel discussion of Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union. It was inspiring.

Yo… that’s my cousin..
www.doctoriansmith.com
Yes, the doctor from Celebrity Fit Club. I found out recently we’re related…second cousins once-removed. Although I think I’m the only one in the world who really understands what that means.

I did another thing ultra-adult… I went to the club.. solo. I met a few interesting folk (although I am still not sold on Dallas). Had a good time, and am looking forward to the next.

Pearl Cleage is another reason to love Atlanta. Especially since she makes the West End sound so damn great!

Caught the Duke vs. Carolina game last night…only a Carolinian would understand the importance and only a Crazy would feel my pain. Sometimes I wish I went to a Whiter College.

Another reason Dallas sucks.. the best radio morning show is Tom Joyner. Not that I don’t love Tom. He looked out for folks back at college. But damn am I that old? No…it’s just that Ricky Smiley, Skip Mason and Kid Craddick aren’t that funny.

Why am I really tuning into RW: Key West?