Half penny post: At year's end

And so the year has come to an end. I am back home in Chi to bring in the new year. I am going to try to avoid making New Year's resolutions based on stuff that I'm not already doing.

I have travelled a great deal (photo is of me sleeping on a heating vent in DCA) and have one last story to add from yesterday's trip. People see only that which they wish to see. I was on my way through security and had taken off the requisite layers of clothing (shoes, belt, jacket, sweatsheat, hat etc). I was about to go through the detector and security tells me to go back and take off my light sweater. I almost threw a fit. The white bloke in front of me had just gone through wearing his. What The Fuck? I know I had my boi swagger going (I caught 3 different women eyeing me) but that was uncalled for. Black folks aren't trying to start somn on a plane, we've got other shit to worry about. Also if the white lady can go through the screener with her head scarf on, my black ass can sure as hell go through with my skull cap on as well. I just had to get that off my chest.

Back to the gist of this post... where was I ... o yes travel. I have gone to a good many places and enjooyed myself. I took my trips alone which enabled me to go wherever I pleased at the drop of a dime. In the last six months I've been to DC, NY, Philly, Miami, Berkely, San Fran, Vegas, Phoenix, New Orleans and a few other cities that are not coming to mind immediately. I've made acquaintances on planes, at airports even at coffee shops. All of whom have helped to make me feel that much less lonely.

Side note: Nicole Pina hot damn, if you are on Downelink look her up under nicki*****. She put up a new photo and Lord have mercy. I have the worst crush on this woman. How do you know you're not quite straight? Look at the photo and tell me you did not forget your next planned activity.

This year has also helped me to further define where I wish to be careerwise and socially. I am that much surer of myself and that much more comfortable with my sexuality. I have cut down on how much I take other people's opinions into account. This means I don't hide / dance around my sexuality as much. Still not sure how my mama will deal with meeting a girlfriend - should be fun. She is currently smitten with my sister's beau though. My sexuality has turned into the litmus test for people in my sister's life. If you can't deal with it get a stepping. I do love jr dearly. She's even out with me when I'm hitting on women.

I have lost people that I love and a few others have given birth. I discovered how much of a temper I have when I was crossed. I recently found out that someone who is practically family to me is expecting her first child ... yay!

To be continued ... I need sustenance.

Travel: Home again ... or not

I made it back to Chi yesterday after the lil snafu at the Columbus airport. That is one airport that you do not want to get stuck in. I had to catch the Megabus. Got home at 7am and checked out. I woke up later in the afternoon, ate and went right back to sleep. Woke up this morning feeling rather perky and have decided to do one more round of travel. All things equal, I should be heading out of here at 6 for one last jaunt before the New Year. Proposed airport tally ORD - PHL - DCA - IAD - CLT - ORD.

Update: I come to you from the humble seats at Washington Dulles airport. My abs of late have been getting one hell of a workout. They positively hurt. Its from sleeping on the floor / (on top of the heating vents if I'm going to be honest) at the airports. The heat serves a dual purpose, my ass is heated up and it provides relief for muscle fatigue.

Travel: 3 cities 1 day

Greetings from the floor at the humble Port Columbus OH airport. Yesterday I pulled a 3 city whirlwind tour. I had breakfast in New Orleans, lunch in Washington DC and dinner in Columbus OH. This is a meal in the downtown area of the cities mind you not the airports.

As luck would have it, due to weather and other lil things, I can't fly out of OH. I've been rolled over on standby from 2 flights and I'm about to call it a day and catch the bus back to Chi.

I made it to my home town last night and my favourite ice cream spot was open ... yay! I got a hot apple dumpling with home made pumpkin spice ice cream and caramel (pictured). Sinfully delightful ... I was in heaven.

I have an hour to kill before I've got to catch the bus into town. Airport tally for this trip ORD - PHL - DCA - IAD - MSY - CMH.

Travel: Big Easy

72F Amen! Hossana! Hallelujah! A sun tan ... double Amen! Yes I made it to the Big Easy. I spent one glorious afternoon in the sun taking in the scenery. Well evening as well if I'm going to be honest... Bourbon Street anyone?

We got here on a wing and a prayer BTW. It took 3 tries to find a plane for us this morning. 1st plane needed maintenance. 2nd plane was flown in from Philly but first needed maintenance in Philly. It arrived and broke down at the gate. Jesus must've been in on that one as we would not have fared so well if it had broken down mid flight. Anyway 3rd plane was finally brought in and we were out of there, an hour and a half late.

I hope you all enjoyed a hearty holiday feast. I ended up fasting instead of feasting. Not that I was on a religious bent or anything .... I simply could not find a place to eat in New Orleans. 99% of all eating spots were closed :(. Even Emeril's was closed and I was soooo looking forward to his gumbo. I finally found a spot on some side road that sold Po' Boys and I got a spicy sausage one. Not the best tasting sandwich but it sure as hell was filling :D.

I made it out to Algiers Point where we did some work after Katrina stopped by. The neighborhood looked quite different. The houses were repainted and all looked vibrant. Families were on the porches and it just brought a smile to my face.

Back to the cold weather ... Happy Boxing Day!

Half penny post: On the runway again

Happy holidays to everybody! I hope you all get some quality time with your families.

I blog today from my humble seat in the Reagan National Airport in DC (Sheena, you know me too well). I have been out here since Monday well more of Tuesday. I detoured and stopped by Philly in the name of an original Philly Cheese Steak :). When I can get off standby I shall be on my merry way to New Orleans. I have not been back to see the city since we went to help with the clean up a few years back so it shall be nice to see the changes that have taken place.

This is going to be the first Christmas that I've spent alone. I am usually with my sister or friends. It struck me this afternoon and I almost burst into tears in the middle of the mall. I had gone in search of a travel bag as my current bag is on its last shoulder straps. Mall visit: Can you say ants in an anthill. It was simultaneously exciting and downright scary. Hopefully N.O. will be just what the doctor ordered.

As I will be on the road, I can't have the traditional Christmas feast. In lieu, I am having the famous Nandos Peri Peri Chicken. I picked some up on my way to the airport. The host at Nandos and I are now well acquainted so shoutout to Toni. I walked in with my bag and the first thing he said to me was "You're flying out and leaving me again aren't you?" I had to laugh. He really is a sweetheart.

Half penny post: Curled up with some cider

Sheena I love your pizza idea. I plan to try it out as soon as my ass can leave the house. It's hella cold, wind chill of -27F right now and that's up some 5 degrees from about 4 hours ago. Winds are gusting at about 34mph.

It being heartily warm inside I'm curled up with some spiced cider and watching holiday movies. I watched PS I Love You in its entirety today for the first time. I cried through a good chunk of it... yes I did. It was quite touching. I've thus far watched The Note and One Fine Day as well.

Oy too much snow

Chicago specializes in 2 things, deep dish pizza and hella cold weather. We just got dumped on and I'm talking a good many inches of snow. The fellas in my building built a snow man that is note worthy. I'll have to go get a photo of him and post it.

The weekly round-up sponsored by "When the hell is spring coming?"

• Snow snow snow ... the weather is beginning to depress me.
• It's colder than Zeus' nuts - The bloke rides around in the heavens with a toga on.
• A friend graduated and gave the rest of us hope.
• Zimbabwe is a hot mess but there are some bright spots. Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network is the 2008 Recipient of Amnesty International USA's Ginetta Sagan Award for Women's and Children's Rights. We salute her and the work that she has done in the advocacy for female children in our country.
• South of Nowhere took it's final bow. Spashley is no more. Jenn and Dee gave it the send off it deserved. Check out their vlog here. I can't wait for them to recap the last season of the L Word.

Have a good weekend!

Ty

Half Penny post: Travels, family, music

First up shoutout to musicisamust and sokari of BlackLooks. Thanks for your words of encouragement.

I did manage to get out of here for the weekend. I visited my sister in DC and made it home to OH for a friend's graduation. Like many other African students it was a struggle for her to make it to graduation so you know we had to go and dance up and down the aisles in celebration. Well we didn't want to embarass her parents so we stuck to just cheering enthusiastically.

I also got a chance to watch the Soweto Gospel Choir perform in DC .... YAY!!!!!! The show was sold out well over a week ago, but I went to the theater on the faith that I would get a ticket and I did score a $10 prime ticket. These are usually seats that are so far back you are going for the music not to see the choir dance. As luck would have it my $10 ticket was for the choral tier which means I was right above the choir and could see all the action... awesome. I swear I had a better seat than those with the $50 tickets. I got to chat with some of the choir members after the show ... nothing like using the mother tongue. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I knew most of the songs that they sang and happily sang along. Were I in an aisle, I'd have broken out in dance too.

Every time that I fly through Philly I discover something new in the airport. There is so much art in there it's amazing. A few pieces are at the end of the post. They are by Florence Putterman.

While we are on the subject of airports allow me to recount a take or two from this weekend. First up is the tale of the plane cockpit light that mulfunctioned and had us grounded for 2 hours. We had a small sneeze-horsepower plane which means that I had to duck getting in. The plane was practically empty so we got to pick our own seats and I sat in 3 different places. Now I fell asleep after getting in and assumed I'd be woken up after we'd landed. 2 hours later I wake up, look outside the window and think the sun is mighty high and we've landed. Upon further inspection I discover we haven't left the parking spot. Yup 2 hours in the tin can by the runway. We did eventually take off and the pilot hauled ass all the way to OH.

Tale 2. We are on the plane in Philly heading back to the Chi and we get parked next to the runway for an hour. Then when we are finally cleared to leave, a plane coming in for landing has a landing gear problem so Emergency crews lined the runway and we are forced to sit again for another 15 or so mins. At this point I was certain we were entilted to free drinks or somn. Anyway take off we did at some point and the pilot hauled ass to Chi and then we spent an hour circling the city because there was too much air traffic. We finally land and get parked next to the runway again because there is too much ground traffic. We must have arrived during airport rush hour.

All the flight problems did nothing to dampen the joy of a weekend spent with friends and family. Hope you all had equally blessed weekend.

Voices of Witness: Christian LGBT in Africa

An excerpt from an email by Reconciling Ministries of which I am an active member is below. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. I believe that we should all be allowed to worship and serve our Deity of choice and in my case I would like to do it as a United Methodist. Reconciling Ministries Network is a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.

Voices of Witness
Integrity USA's Voices of Witness, stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in Africa, premiered at the Lambeth Conference on July 23, 2008. Times Online introduced the video in an article titled, Lambeth Diary: Gay Africans tell their stories.

Behind the Mask
Behind the Mask, through journalistic activism, strives to mainstream lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgendered, and intersex (LGBTI) interests and to change negative attitudes towards homosexuality and same-sex traditions in Africa.

Below is a preview of Voices of Witness: Africa which is currently in production. Please consider making a donation towards its completion at VOW: Africa.

Chicago and other random thoughts.

Whining below ... you have been warned!

Our weather is a hot mess and so is our governor's situation ... it's the only thing in the news these days. Bailout ... another thing I'm hearing a lot off.

Another Chicago hot mess is the damn CTA. I was outside vying to catch a case of pneumonia today because the train signals up north stopped working and therefore the trains stopped running. Our train station faces the lake. Any moron will tell you that is a recipe for disaster. Ofcourse our glorious train station got expressed by the first train that came by so we had another 10 minutes wait for the next one. So I'm suffering through another round of sniffles, sneezes and rudolph moments. My nose is so thoroughly exfoliated it will give a baby's bottom a run for it's money.

I've got a case of insomnia that recently kicked in and that is really messing with me. Had to use a backup method in order to fall asleep last night.

My phone has chosen to give up its digital ghost and whining about that is a waste of energy soo next!

I'm beginning to hate being single ... and I'm going to blame that on the holidays.

On Friday, the good Lord willing I'm out of here for a few days. Canned air anyone?

Snow, Ice, Slush

It's a cold mess out there. That about summarizes Chicago's awesome weather. I think I got a facial walking between buildings this afternoon.

My cold is on it's way out and I'm a grateful bugger.

An interesting tale that was relayed to me by my sister

M: Why isn't your sister married? She's running a little behind schedule.

S: O she's not going to any time soon either.

M: Does she have a boyfriend?

S: She has a girlfriend.

M: Huh .... (a minute or so later) ... O .... O .... O

Anyway it's slow out here. I work. I sleep. I repair my roommate's laptops. I should start a business.

Time permitting check out this article on Homosexuality in Africa(African taboos surrounding gays hamper access to HIV/AIDS programs).

I continue to appreciate being able to be open about my sexuality in my every day life.

Aaaaaachoooooo

+ + + = Bad Idea. I am a programmer and that equation makes sense. Aaacchhhhoooo! sniffle sniffle....

Friday roundup

Tis Friday ... Yay!

Lovers and Friends has a new episode ... Tori anyone? And the Sasha storyline .... I'm jus saying it's up so watch it here.

Weather is a pain in the rear end. We're doing a snow man walk and the ice waddle, what is up with that?

My phone is on it's last rings ... thank goodness for my back-up phone. My phone is the most temperemental woman that I know. It will hog my text messages and deliver them at like midnight ... big problem.

Christmas soirees are in full swing. Ugly sweater competition anyone?

I encourage people to tune into U-People's live stream on Thursday nights at 9PM ET.

I recently had an interesting facebook exchange with some folks, an excerpt is below ( the names have been ommitted to protect the innocent)

• Elegant bosoms and Delightful derrières...Derrières are just as fancy!
• Teach me more. So you think it would fly if I complimented someone saying.."why, i could not help but notice your delightful derrieres.." , with appropriate pronunciation of course.
• It's not plural, it's Derrière...It's pronounced "der-ee-air"...And so the proper usage would be, "What a lovely Derrière, Madame...Can I buy thee a drink?" Then when you get really gutsy, you can then offer the Elegant bosom line...Things should go smashingly well after this...Not that I've had any experience with such things...
• Thanks for the grammar lesson. I'll be sure to let you know how many black eyes I rack up with the line combo :)
• OK. So, you can be my wing-woMAN next rime we hang. Ty, i guarantee you, if you don't get lucky with that line, it's probably because your accent/pronunciation was off.
• It's all in the "delivery", you need to exude sincerity and awe when you notice them, and more importantly, when you compliment her. Good luck dude.
• That and you didn't liquor her up as well as you should have...Again, not that I've had ANY experience with such things....
• Gotcha, deep wallet for the liquor, and fake it like you mean it ... well more of over enthuse
• Well Ty, dude..i only say it when i truly mean it..see..that's the secret. No faking bro. But Deep wallet for yourself, cause after a few drinks, you'll mean it numerous times in one night at the right bar.

I have too much fun at times
Ty

Half penny post: Travel epilogue

The last time we caught up I was in Charlotte recovering from my partying ways. I was supposed to fly to San Francisco, but due to some flight cancellations and being # 25 on the standby list I decided to go on to my next stop which was Washington DC to see my sister. It was a pleasant evening. I had dinner at Nando's Chicken. Every southern African worth their salt know's some good peri-peri chicken when they eat it and this is IT! The only city in the US with Nando's is DC and the place is usually packed. I had to wait 15 mins to get a table but the wait was worth it. The quarter chicken and chips with spicy rice was heavenly. Pity the chicken portion looks like a damn cornish hen quarter. We had breakfast at the airport because I was late for my flight and had to catch a later flight. Breakfast came complete with a lovely waitress who I will admit to flirting with briefly. My sister was gracious enough to tell the waitress that I thought she was cute ... yea I love you too junior.

Now I'm back in snowy Chicago and missing Miami. Can't wait for my next trip out of here. I have been thinking about why I enjoy travelling so much. I love seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new cuisines and all that's in between. If I could get a job that lets me travel this much I would take it as long as it's not in sales / marketing. I am my father's daughter in that respect. I love traveling.

I decided to give it more thought and I think the other reason why I travel is that I don't feel as lonely. I am surrounded by people and interact with a good many on a regular basis but am lonely at the core of it. When I travel I am meeting people, and doing things that help me to fill the void. Some people drink, some jump out of perfectly good planes, I travel. When I travel it's one of the few times that I feel completely in my element.

Most of my travelling is spontaneous, eg this trip. I decided in which city I wanted to be when. The only thing in this trip set in stone was the Macy's day parade, everything else was dependent on how I felt. I left Chicago on Wednesday instead of Thurs morning coz I had nothing to do that night and thought dinner in Philly would be fun (Philly cheese steak anyone?). I caught an earlier flight to Miami coz I wanted to eat lunch on the beach on Friday. My plane on Sunday had a 4 hour delay so I chose to go into Philly to see the city again. The lack of structure in travelling would drive a lot of people crazy, but for me it's exhilarating.

This trip also reminded how much it sucks to be single. You see soo much that you'd love to share with someone. At the end of a day before you sleep you want to call someone to just touch base or share your day or simply say I love you and miss you. Aaaaargh I'm beginning to depress myself so I'll quit while I'm ahead. BTW congratulations to a friend of mine who got engaged this past weekend.