Random Beat: Kirk Franklin - Brighter Day

Just because I'm feeling the holy ghost like that

Tuesday Beat: John Legend - Refuge (When it's cold outside)

Weekly Rundown

• It's Pride Weekend in the Chi! Can't wait to go to the parade tomorrow. I am actually helping out with traffic management this year so I'll be rocking one of those ugly green vests.
• The librarian weekly update. I stopped by as always even though I had no books to pick up. We enjoy travelling so we've been trading places to hit up for a day trip. I've been trying to talk her into trying out the Megabus.
• I got to spend an evening with a friend whom I haven't seen in ages. She came into town with her beloved whom I've been dying to meet.
• The hunt for permanent employment continues. I am now elevating my request to the universe and saying I would like an employment offer that includes an H-1 petition. I keep getting offers that don't. My old request was for offers now we're are getting specific.
• My cooking adventures continue and I made a deep dish personal pan breakfast pizza. Not to toot my own horn but *beep beep*. That was wicked good pizza. I used very little cheese and relied on the creaminess of the eggs & cream. Threw in veggies [pre cooked] & my 2 second sauce. Next Friday I'm thinking of trying out pasta making.
• My niece is now in the land of the Buckeyes and I look forward to seeing them next week.

World Cup Randomness

• WTF happened to Italy and France? I am still in shock that they didn't make it out of the group stage.
• The US got schooled by Ghana and I almost emptied my battery shaking the vuvuzela app. Go Ghana Go!

HAPPY PRIDE!

D'Angelo - Feel Like Makin' Love

Sarah Shahi did this song justice.

And for the NSFW version ... do not say I didn't warn you

Weekly Rundown

• Behold my first official pizza made from scratch ... crust n all. Crappy phone photo I know but you get the gist. I nailed the texture of the crust so for the next one I'll sneak some extra seasoning into it to make it more flavorful. I need to improve the sauce since it's cheeseless. BTW topping was ground beef, spinach and beans with my 2 second sauce.
• No librarian edition this week. I had a RUG [not the floor covering] meeting and couldn't get back to the library on time.
• I toured the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and got to see some floor trading take place. You need to have 20/20 vision to work in that place and know a hell of a lot of hand signals. The guy who took us on the tour gave us a crash course on the hand signals and I was beyond ecstatic when I watched a guy on the floor complete a transaction and figure out about half of what he was signaling. It doesn't take much to make me happy.
• You know it's time to give up the mid twenties spiel when your silver hair starts to bring a friend to the party.
• Random Quote: What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle? A violin has strings... a fiddle has strangs!
• Evolving has a job straight out of the gate ... go girl go!
• My niece is moving closer to me next week ... yay! I will now have a 5.5 hour drive to go see her.

World cup randomness continues

• Spain got their arses kicked by the Swiss ... unheard of. France's loss to Mexico ... we have officially found the rip in the space time continuum. I've had to throw out 2 of my soccer brackets.
• My beloved Hondurans lost, but Uruguay routed South Africa and made up for it.

Summer's here! Have an enjoyable weekend folks!

The questions people ask

I drafted this post back in January. I read a post by Alix and decided to publish it.

Why o why do people ask the darnedest questions?

I went out with a bunch of folks to celebrate a friend's promotion. We chose to go to a bar since it was after work and no one felt like shelling out a small mint for a proper restaurant downtown. Needless to say after a few pitchers had circulated the conversation down my end of the table turned to women [I was after all sitting with 3 guys - 2 of whom I knew].

Anyway as we are joking around guy#3 pulls the 'I don't mean to to be rude but are you gay?' speech. G1 damn near pulled a cheek muscle trying not to laugh. I say yea and go back to the conversation since we were "philosophizing" on Victoria's Secrets with the other 2 guys.

A while later g3 hits me with 'So do you date guys as well?' which I pretend not to hear. The conversation is flowing and we are having a great time when I hear 'So are you the man in the relationship?'. Evidently I was more sober than I thought because I did not read him the riot act. I said no and pointedly turned from this guy to talk to the other 2 guys. He got the hint and finally shut up.

Why do people feel that they have the right to ask those questions? Or any other questions that pertain to my sexuality for that matter. Having it come up over the course of a conversation is one thing but interjecting the question is just plain rude. I don't go around asking you if you're the top or the bottom in your relationship.

Now this is by no means the first time that the question has been asked of me. Even my sister asked at one point. Yes I have a more masculine presentation but that's just the wrapper people. I cook and bake with the same amount of zeal that I have when I am tinkering with a car or fixing a running toilet. 

For me it's about finding the balance that works for my mate and I. She might want the occasional bug squashed [though I do try to let them live by taking em outside] and I might need someone with more brains than I have to figure out why the toilet is still running. So even though my masculine self tends to precede my feminine self, odds are usually pretty good that the woman I am dating has as much masculine energy but simply chooses to present it with a different wrapper.

image taken from http://khushi.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/baffled/

Tuesday Beat: Zamina aka Waka Waka

Cause I'm African like that I give you the original version of the sing and Shakira's remake [which is more fun imho].

Cooking Channel

I am seriously stuck on the Cooking Channel. No I'm not talking about the Food Network. I am talking about Cooking Channel. The programming reminds me of old school Food Network where it was about the food and cooking it. It just has a fresher and simplified look to it. No super productions and several awesome British shows.

Basic French cooking ... check. Indian made easy ... check [don't pretend like you don't want to know how to make a wicked curry masala]. Chinese food made easy ... check [moo goo gai pan anyone?]

Nigella Lawson is a woman after my own heart. Her show Nigella Express is totally kick ass in that she cooks like I do. As few pots as possible, as much flavor as you can pack in and have fun while doing it. Did I mention that her dishes are sinful. The woman just goes for it.

I can now make a pizza from scratch as well as flavorful moist burgers in a pan on the stove [secret seems to be handling the meat as little as possible]. I tried the burger recipe out on my roomie and he thought it was decent. I will test out the pizza recipe on the roomies once I perfect it. Dough making definitely requires more practice since I am used to cooking by feel and taste not actual precise measurements.

If your cable provider has it definitely check it out if you like food shows.

Weekly Rundown and World Cup 2010 randomness

• Ke nako! It is indeed time for the World Cup. ESPN3 is streaming the games live in case you want to watch the game while in the office.
• This weekend is definitely looking to be one of my fav weekends. Soccer, F1 racing, friends graduating and graduation parties.
• We have the librarian edition this week. I ran into her while she was out running a few days ago. I go walking where she runs. Suffice it to say it was a nice surprise and we had a nice chat the following day. She actually lives 2 train stops from where I do. We have finally made it to the we should hang out sometime conversation.
• As someone who's worked in tech support I got quite a kick out of the clip of a woman who called tech support to ask how she could disable Google Pacman. You have to admire the tech support guy for keeping his cool.

World Cup randomness

• RSA 1 - Mexico 1 in my humble opinion Mexico won this one. France 0 - Uruguay 0; France should have done better. My brackets are still intact so no harm done.
• Who caught the kickoff concert? Awesome performances all around with a special shout out to Hugh Masekela and Shakira. That woman's hips do not lie... neither do her abs.
• Brenda Fassie is turning in her grave. The Alicia Keys / blk jks rendition of Too Late For Mama was a crime against humanity. I would have given them both red cards for the infraction.
• The concert is done, the teams are asleep, tonight as we lay down, we pray the good Lord our brackets will keep. - Well our brackets and the health of the players.
• Desmond Tutu was seriously stoked about the games. Ain't never seen a retired archbishop that happy. Looked like he would take off & fly at any moment.
• And condolences to Madiba's family on the loss of the man's great grand daughter.

Tuesday Beat: Toni Braxton - Let It Flow

Taking it back a little.

Weekly Rundown

• One week until the World Cup kicks off! I am beside myself with anticipation. I have my apps on my phone set up so that I have real time info on all the games as well as the behind the scenes gossip. I want to put a vuvuzela over my desk for the duration of the World Cup... yes I am that much of a soccer fan.
• No proper librarian edition this week. I had a meeting during my regularly scheduled library time. She did however recommend a book that she loves that is out of my general reading realm and she figured I'd either like it or hate it. The jury is still out on it as it has Spanish sprinkled liberally throughout it and my Spanish only exists within the boundaries of soccer commentary.
• For those who have never watched the movie La Cucina, I highly recommend it. It revolves around 2 conversations about relationships that take place in the kitchens of the participants. The conversations are thought provoking so don't watch it if you just want to veg out. I've watched it a couple of times and each time I catch something new. Speaking of movies, I finally came around to watching Vicky Christina Barcelona and found it quite entertaining.
• I am hoping to travel out east either next Thursday or the following Friday. I miss my little princess and also need to head back to OH to visit family.
• I am crossing items off my to do list at a rate that I am proud of. I completed my RC Reserve Corp training today and was on the team that won the little challenges [they weren't that big of a deal but we wanted the little pins]. This is another thing that I've wanted to do for a while so I am very proud of myself. I used to wonder why I got myself up at 6am on a Saturday in the middle of Winter to go to a class or simulation exercise and now I am beginning to understand why that was important. It was not required of me but I went and now I appreciate the foundation that was laid down during those weekends along with the discipline that it instilled in me.
• I still need to get my stuff together on the job front. Come August I need to not only be employed full time, I also need to be making enough to help my sister with her tuition.
• Chi Summer Dance kicks off next week and I can't wait. I love dancing in the park. I am no longer as self conscious as I used to be. I have no problem with laughing at myself when I do the steps wrong with a crowd watching. It's all about having fun!
• Have a good weekend folks!

Image taken from http://www.zorowski.com/churchmice/archives/0001.htm

Tuesday Beat: Barrie Gledden - Planet Earth

The song itself starts around the 4 minute mark but this is by far and large the best video that utilizes it. Pepa & Silvia in Los Hombres de Paco will forever be one of my favorite queer couples. Their relationship had a natural progression and you couldn't help but root for them to make it. If you've never seen the show YouTube PepSi LHDP.