Bad Singers and Temp Jobs

Happy Thanksgiving to all! :)

I belong to this site called kSolo.com. It's a site where you sing songs via karaoke. It's still in the beta stages, but it's pretty damn cool. I love to sing, and I also know the types of songs I can and can't sing. If there is a song I like on the site to which I don't know the words or melody or just find it very difficult for me to sing, I DON'T DO IT. I know the site is for fun. That's why I'm on it; however, there are some people on there who should not be singing, especially on a karaoke site with a ratings and feedback system. If you sing like a donkey in heat, you are bound to get bad feedback and low ratings. I love Mariah Carey's "Can't Let Go." I know the song better than the back of my vocal cords...okay, I don't know what my vocal cords look like, but work with me, here! It can prove to be a very diffiuclt song to sing, especially if you don't know the song or are not a good singer in the first place. I know every high, low, chord and chorus of this song. I have never sang this song in public. I always sing it at home, and usually, I sing it in a lower register. When I do that, I can WORK IT! However, I chose NOT to record it on kSolo. I have made several attempts, but never saved it. Why? Because I felt my versions weren't good enough FOR ME, and I knew that if I saved the versions I attempted, I would get a bad rating, and I wasn't about to go there. However, one person in particular tried to sing Mariah Carey’s “Can’t Let Go,” and this girl completely DECIMATED the song. I mean, she was fucking AWFUL. Off key, too loud, wrong range, BLECH! I mean, if you listened to it while you were too full, and you had a serious gag reflex, you probably would have thrown up.

This is what I wrote:

IN ALL HONESTY, this is NOT a good song for you. You were out of tune and completely off key, and there was too much overkill on other parts of the song. I don't know why others gave you a high rating. They were not being honest with you. You are only lying to yourself if you think you did a really good job on this song. I have a feeling you will delete my rating, as you have probably deleted other low ratings, but you need to BE REAL AND HONEST WITH YOURSELF. You did not do a good job on this song. BE REAL.

This is tame compared to other things that have been said about bad singers on kSolo! Most of the ratings for the song were 10s; however, the majority of the ratings were given to her by men, and in my opinion, these guys were giving her 10s, not for her bad singing, but because of her looks. The girl has her picture on her profile, and is a thin, blonde-haired chick. The ones who responded to what I wrote were MEN. Two men, to be exact, who claimed that this girl was the angel that had descended from heaven and that she didn't deserve my slap on the hand. What the fuck ever, losers. Why be pissed at me for telling the truth? Oh, wait, because she's "cute as a button," she can't be touched, right? Had her picture not been up there or she were not as “attractive,” I seriously doubt she would have gotten the ratings she did, thus proving that there are far too many shallow people out there who will do and/or say anything for a pretty face or a nice body.

She eventually deleted her "rousing rendition" of "Can't Let Go," which is fine by me, because it was awful. I listened to another song she tried to sing, which was Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You,” you know, to give her the BOTD, but she didn’t fare well with that song, either, thus leading me to believe that this girl couldn’t sing a note out of a bucket.

Okay, enough about Miss kSolo 2005. LOL I'm finally finished with that stupid-ass temp job and I will be starting a permanent job in December. Thank goodness. I was tired of jumping around from hot spot to hot spot with what felt like no end in sight. Stuffing envelopes, copying documents and trying to talk to people on the phone while sitting around three ditzy appointment schedulers is not my bag. There was one chick there who kept calling people "sweetie" and kept using the word "fabulous" every time she talked to patients. I find it a little unprofessional to address a patient while making an appointment as "sweetie," but that's just me. I won't even get into the lady who I replaced for 3 weeks. Okay, maybe I will. She was nice enough; however, when she called herself a born-again Christian, but cussed about as much, if not more, than I did, it made me raise an eyebrow. LOL Anyway, I digress.

She was out of the office because she was getting that ever-so popular new diet - the weight loss surgery diet! You, too, can lose up to 100 pounds in 3 weeks! Someone actually said, "You'll be so cute, thin and healthy when you come back!" WHAT-THE-FUCK? Now, this lady was about 5'3" or 5'4" and all of 200-230 pounds, yet, she needed surgery? She claimed it wasn't for vanity, but for her type II diabetes. My husband has type II diabetes, and his doctors haven't suggested gastric bypass surgery for him to get well. I assume she REALLY did it because of the little bugs in her ear telling her she needs to be thin, but that's just me, of course. I despise weight loss surgery, and even if in the remote possibility I gained 600 pounds, I wouldn't get it. Might as well die happy with a bucket of KFC rather than not be able to enjoy what I eat for the rest of my life with a severely reduced pouch formerly known as my stomach and be a size 10 dying to be thin!

At any rate, all relatives are out of town, and hubby and I are making a semi- non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner for two: deep fried chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese with FOUR kinds of cheese in it, greens, string beans and potatoes, cornbread, sweet potatoes and candied yams and homemade, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies!! I love that man!!! We are having such a great time! I am and have always been thankful for all that God has blessed me with, and this day is no different. Thank you, God, for all your blessings! Amen!

ETA: Miss kSolo 2005 decided to sing "Can't Let Go" again, and it's no better than the first time she sang it. She still decimated the song, and she's still a horrible singer. However, I listened to another person who decided to sing "Can't Let Go," and this chick is WORSE than Miss kSolo. I didn't think it could get any worse, but it did. OH MY LORD. WILL YOU DUMB-ASS BITCHES WHO CAN'T SING STOP TRYING TO SING MARIAH CAREY SONGS? If you don't know how to work the pipes, then you can't be the plumber! That's all for now.

Thoughts for 10-19-2005

WARNING: When you make the statement "You know, I really don't want to buy a house. I'm happy renting," this phrase may cause some folks to spit out their beverage or look at you at you like you just said you want to have sex with George Bush (Pick either one...they're both rankly disugsting!). It's about as bad as people asking why I don't have a kid, and when I tell them I don't want to, they go into a litany of more questions, trying to pick apart my reasons and convince me that, in fact, I DO or SHOULD want to have a kid. Er, no thanks. Having a kid would be about as welcome as pushing a porcupine through my cervix, and I ain't about to go there. Thank you, Dr. Presthus for giving me Essure!! It's all about CHOICE. In this lifetime, we are afforded the gracious opportunity to CHOOSE how we life our lives. We get to choose the type of college we want to attend, in which occupation we want to work, whether or not we have kids, marry, buy a house, car, cat, dog, fish, etc. Yet, some people act like certain decisions are more requirements than choices, i.e., buying a house or having kids.

I have rented all of my adult life, and I have no problem with it. Yes, there were times when I thought I would buy a house in the future because I thought that that was what I was supposed to do; however, after my husband and I moved out of our apartment (THANK YOU, LORD!) and found the one-bedroom bungalow where we now live, we decided, "Hell, let's just stay here for the duration!" We will never have to worry about needing more space than we already have. We're the caretakers of our little bungalow, and because of this, our rent is fixed at a decent price and will never go up. There's also the possibility that, should the owners wish to sell the bungalow, we would get first dibs at trying to purchase it. That would be the only way we buy property at all. Even if it never happens, it wouldn't bother us. Why this bothers other people, just like our choice to be childfree, I WILL NEVER KNOW.

The prompting for this entry today is that I went onto a message board and posted that I am not interested in buying a house ever, and I'm cool with renting our bungalow, and I got all kinds of crazy remarks such as "You're not serious about being a lifetime renter, are you?" or "What about when you get old?" (Um, when I get old, I'll probably retire and move to Florida!) or that I wasn't financially savvy or "on top of my game." I was like, "WTF?" One person posted that she rents an apartment now and loves it, but I was the main target of most people's anger and non-understanding of my decision. I made one last quick reply, then stepped out. I posted this same message on EZCF; however, and received encouraging remarks, as well as finding other people who felt the same way I did. It seems that most people who follow the Life Script ™ seem to judge those who don't quicker than a tornado blowing through a small town in Kansas, and those who live their lives outside the box seem to undertstand exactly what's up.

At any rate, NO, I ain't birthin' babies, and NO, I ain' t buying a house (with the exception of what i stated above about buying the bungalow from the current owners). I just gotta say I LOVE YOU FOLKS AT EZCF! :)

Elevators, Buses and Stuff

Recently, I have found myself having somewhat of a disdain for riding in elevators with other people. No, I don't hate people - okay, well, some days, I do; it's just the way that some people check you out and look you over as if you're in some type of beauty pageant when you enter an elevator. I HATE IT. The elevators in the building where I now work have stainless steel mirrored walls, so if I step on the elevator, and someone else is on there, I can look at the reflection of the person and see them looking me up and down with their eyes and see what type of expression they have on their face while doing so. It makes me so sick to my stomach the way people just JUDGE you based on appearance, especially while in close quarters. Same with getting on a bus. You walk up the stairs and put your fare in, and people are looking to see if you look like a model or not, and they respond accordingly with their eyes, facial expressions and body language. Then, you've got those who are judging to see if you're cute, hip or cool enough to sit next to them, and if you're neither of these and happen to sit next to them, they are not happy about it.

I'm fat, I know it, and so does everyone else, and of course, on a crowded bus, the person who has the last empty seat is usually hoping I don't sit next to them. Public transportation is a bitch most times. Then, you got the stinky folks who smell like a herd of buffalos and probably haven't used soap and water since the 70s. Then, there are the folks with their own problems and attitudes that they spew out onto others. Then, there are the sane, helpful, kind folks - the ones that you might sit next to, and they strike up a conversation about the weather or recent events, and they say "Have a good day/night" when either you or that person leaves. Then, there are the bus drivers. Good gravy on a stick!!

Some bus drivers can be just as bad as some of the people who ride the bus. Some of the bus drivers hate their jobs, so they take it out on the passengers by being hard, mean and cruel. Some bus drivers also do the judging by looks thing, and if you're short on change, but pretty enough, they'll let you pass. If not, you' ass is grass. Some bus drivers are hella cool and actually entertaining and fun, and you can chat with them, they sing, crack jokes, and make the ride seem a little bit more enjoyable. Some bus drivers are indifferent, but polite. Then you got the Playa-Playa bus drivers who holla at any woman who comes on the bus. "Say, babe, howudoin'?" *LOL* Believe me, when you've been riding the bus for as long as I have (Just learned to drive 3 years ago!), you come up on a lot of strange people and strange events.

Well, that's my rant for the day.

Tonight is Ladies Night Out at my friend's place, so I'll be busy with that and will report back on how it went. Also, hubby and I are going to a moving sale that my supervisor is having. We may not buy anything, but there's nothing wrong with window shopping. :)

Still working on maintaining my inner peace.

Letting Go

My friend wrote this list about me:


You are a beautiful person Vashion.
You are stong and confident.
You are a loving and committed Wife
You are a fun person.
You have a wonderful sense of humor.
You are fun to hang out with and be around.
You are a dependable person.
You are a hard worker.
You are a teamplayer.
You are wise.
You adapt to change quickly.
You are open minded.
You are compassionate
You can not be replaced.

She is right. These are truths about me which others see in me - some of which I acknowledge, others which I did not, but I will from now on. Here is also my new daily mantra that I just wrote today:


I agree to send out peace and blessings, not unhappiness or negativity or to seek revenge towards anyone who may have hurt me.

I agree to ask God to help me heal my past hurts and to help me move on, and though I may not be able to forget what happened, even if for a very long time, I will forgive.

I agree to ask forgiveness to anyone I may have hurt. Whether they forgive me or not is not up to me. The fact that I have admitted my hurting them and asked their forgiveness is what matters.

I agree to let it go, I agree to wash my hands of it.

Thank you, Jesus.

Also, a poem called "Let It Go:"


Let it go
I know it's hard to do
Especially when the one you loved
In return did not love you

Let it go
I know it's going to hurt
It may even tear you up inside
But if you keep holding on to it, the best part of you may die

Let it go
I know you're mad and you want to cry and shout
Go ahead and do that
Because living life and letting go of the past is what YOUR LIFE needs to be about

Let it go
Let it fly free into the hands of the Lord
Let Him handle this
Vengeance is His, so cut the cord

Let it go
Let yourself in and let the badness subside
Let it go
Come on out and enjoy the world outside

Let it go
When one door closes, many doors and windows open up
Let it go
Because once you completely free yourself from your past hurts, God will overfill your cup

Amen!

Much A-Don't About Nothin'

Okay, I know it's not real important with all that has been going on in the world lately, but humor me for a minute. What the hell does "moisturizes my situation and maintains my sexy" mean? This phrase was said by Sean Combs as he was talking with Vanessa Williams on one of those corny-ass Proactiv infomercials. I mean, who wrote that shit for him? It makes him sound like he's trying to be "ultra cool" or skipped a few classes of English! Wait, did he even finish school? You know, Kanye is making money off of being a "college dropout", so why not Sean Combs? I refuse to call him "Puffy, " "P. Diddy" or "Puff Daddy." Makes him sound like a Teletubby or a big, purple dinosaur or some shit - "I love you, you love me, everybody loves PUFF DADDY." Get the fuck out of here with that! *LOL*

Anyway, my husband and I celebrated being together for 5 years yesterday evening. We met and had our first date on Friday, September 22, 2000, and the rest is history. For him, I bought a half-dozen pink roses and gave him a card. He didn't give me anything special, but I'm sure he'll make up for it later this weekend. ;) We ordered some take out from The Cheesecake Factory, went home, watched some Good Times on T.V. Land, some Soul Food on BET (which is one of the only decent programs that come on that channel, but I'll write about BET another day), and had a great time sharing that chocolate mousse cheescake! YUM! We also decided to talk about what we liked about one another, and that was fun!

Hair today: Big, curly shake-'n-go puff!
Look: Casual. I'm wearing my oversized, comfy, green FOTL T-shirt and black stretch pants. It's Friday, and I think Fridays should automatically be casual day* in EVERY workplace.

*Note: Casual does NOT mean coming into work with rollers all up in your hair or wearing that infamous CURL BAG on your head and in your jammies/lingerie/underwear and feather boa mules or Mickey Mouse slippers.

V

CRAZY WEATHER!

Just after most New Orleans was washed away from Hurricane Katrina, another hurricane looms on the horizon, this time not only threatening to do more damage to New Orleans, but also affecting cities in Texas. Good grief on a corn dog stick!! I feel like this insane weather pattern is never going to end. I wouldn't be surprised to hear if there was a report that another tropical storm had turned into a hurricane in the near future...which I hope doesn't happen, but who knew that Hurricane Rita was going to happen?

Then, last night, all hell broke loose in Minnesota with tornadoes popping up in various cities and severe thunderstorms washing over others. Heavy winds, bigger than golf-ball sized hail, trees down, power outages - definitely one of the worst storms we've had in a while. Hubby and I definitely thought we'd have to get Wizard of Oz up in our place and hide out in the basement, but thankfully, we were able to just hole up in our bedroom with our kitties until the storm blew over. It was so hot during the morning and afternoon, and after hubby and I got home, we were so zapped, we took a nap. After we woke up, though, it was a different story. It got so dark around 6:30 or 7, that it looked like midnight! Glad we made it through and no damage happened in our area.

Unfortunately, north Minneapolis and certain other areas got the brunt of the damage. Some automatic doors that were on a Best Buy store in Brooklyn Center were blown off due to straight-line winds. We are just blessed that we were spared, but you never know what may happen next time. Thanks, God for watching over us and blessing us!

Heard from my other friend, Doris, last evening via e-mail. She is the sistah who bought the other concert ticket from me in North Carolina. She just turned 51 on September 10th, but she looks like she's 30. Beautiful, hightly intelligent, laid-back, really cool sistah. So glad that we were able to meet. I totally forgot her birthday, so I sent her a belated e-card.

That's all for now. If I run into anymore bathroom problems, lI'll update my Bathroom Etiquette entry. :)

Bathroom Etiquette

Okay, now I don't know what the hell is wrong with people and why they can't wash their hands after they use a toilet, but it's uncalled for and completely disgusting!!

I was in the bathroom today, and as I came out of the stall to wash my hands, an older woman came out of her stall. You see where this is going, right? Yep, the woman left without letting so much as a drop of soap or water touch her filthy, grimy, piss- and/or shit-covered hands. *HORK!!!* What the hell is wrong!!?!!

So here are some tried and true bathroom etiquette tips that I made up, and while I'm sure the majority of the population already knows this stuff, there are obviously plenty of other folks who act like they don't have any common sense when it comes to bathroom etiquette, so here I go:

1. When entering a bathroom and others are in the stall, politely wait near the door, AWAY from the stall - not in front of the stall, not on the side of it, and for the love all that's good, DON'T FUCKING KNOCK ON THE STALL DOOR AND ASK IF SOMEONE IS IN THERE. If the door is closed and you see some pants rolled down or some shoes sticking out, more than likely, SOMEONE IS IN THERE! And don't let your kids run wild either because they are more than likely to try and enter a stall even when someone else is occupying it, and if the knob is broken or the door cannot be kept shut and they bust in on somebody, they're gonna get an eyeful of something that maybe they shouldn't!

2. When you do acquire a stall, do your business as fast as possible, and please, do not conduct business or conversate with your homies on a cell phone while sitting on the toilet. I DO NOT need to know if the stocks rose or fell today or if you gon' meet up "with the gang" after work for happy hour or the latest celebrity or neighborhood gossip.

3. After you are done using the stall, PLEASE , PLEASE, PLEASE FLUSH THE TOILET and clean the toilet seat if anything is on it! The person who has to use the stall after you doesn't want to see and/or smell whatever the fuck has come out of you!!!! Ladies, if you are on your period and make a mess, CLEAN THAT SHIT UP AND PROPERLY DISPOSE OF PADS AND TAMPONS. Do not leave blood on the seat or in the toilet and MOST IMPORTANTLY, unless Always, Stayfree or Kotex have come out with flushable pads, DO NOT FUCKING TRY TO FLUSH YOUR PAD. Nasty ass bitches.

4. If you ABSOLUTELY need to take a shit, please keep the farting to a minimum, do it as quickly as possible and do regularly execute COURTESY FLUSHES. What I mean is, every time a log falls, FLUSH IT AWAY. If you know you are going to do a #2 beforehand, you might want to have a can of air freshener, some incense or a matchbook handy and bring it with you so you won't funk up the entire bathroom while handling your business.

5. Last, but certainly not least, when you are done using the bathroom, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, WASH YOUR FUCKING HANDS!!! I cannot stress enough how important this is, and NO, SIMPLY RINSING YOUR HANDS WITH WATER DOES NOT COUNT!! Folks who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom are the assholes who help to spread colds, flu, hepatitis and who knows what the hell else?!

Thank you!

This has been a public service announcement from VLM's World. Please feel free to post additional bathroom etiquette tips that you can think of!

V

Goofin' Around

I thought I'd goof around today with my blog and change it up a little bit by adding some personal touches to it, if you will.

Tonight, I will be sitting at home watching Gilmore Girls! It's getting good, y'all!

Afro Picks and Chico Sticks!

V

Thoughts For Today

I gained a new, true friend, and she and I went out to dinner, saw a play and hung out at her house afterwards this past Saturday evening. She is someone who worked at the same company as I did earlier this year, and we spoke to each other in passing while I was still employed there, but not a lot. I knew, however, that she was someone with whom I wanted to communicate. The day after I quit that job, I e-mailed her, she responded to the e-mail, and she I have been friends ever since. She invited me to a "Ladies Night Out" party a day or two after we started chatting, and it was wonderful! Then, she and I met at the Cheesecake Factory a week or so later. When we met, she gave me a gift bag, and I asked her what it was. She said that there was a card and birthday gifts for me. I barely even knew her at that time, yet, she thought enough of me to give me a belated birthday present. I'm happier than I've ever been, and I've finally got a REAL friend.

No More Buying Used Furniture!

OH MY FUCKING WHAT!

My husband and I were looking for a sofa, so I began to browse the ads here on Craigslist. I came across an ad for a sofa that had a picture attached to it. The sofa appeared to be decent, so my husband and I agreed to contact the seller and get more info about it. The ad was placed around Sunday, August 21st. I contacted the seller the evening of the 21st, and she and I set up a time for my husband and I to come over to her apartment and check the sofa out. We went over to the seller's apartment that next evening, the 22nd. We liked the sofa and decided to purchase it. We also paid an extra $20 to have her and her dad haul it to our place. They delivered the sofa to our home on August 27th, I paid the seller for the sofa and delivery, and the transaction was complete. Everything was going well, until my husband and I started smelling something foul that seemed to be coming from this sofa about a week or so ago. I had an idea of what the smell might be, but I didn't believe that it could have been that particular smell. My worst fears were confirmed, however, as you will find out below. We just sprayed some Febreeze on the sofa and thought nothing more of it...until this evening. I was lying on this sofa this evening, and all of a sudden, I saw MAGGOTS crawling on the floor. I jump up, thinking WHERE THE HELL DID THEY COME FROM?!! Sure enough, they were coming from the sofa. When my husband moved the sofa, more maggots crawled out, and sure enough, like I thought, THERE WAS A DEAD RAT UNDERNEATH THE SOFA. The rat was obviously living in this sofa before it was moved to our place, and whether or not the owner knew she had a rodent problem, I don't know, it was HORRIBLE AND DISGUSTING. My husband immediately hauled the sofa out. My skin is STILL crawling. I will never purchase another piece of used furniture from a private owner, whether from Craigslist or otherwise.

BE CAREFUL!!

Kanye -Schmayne - Who Gives a Damn?

If I read another message or if another person asks me, "Did you hear what KAYNE said?", I think I will scream!! I don't give a damn about what he said, and furthermore, what he said wasn't deep, enlightening or awe-inspiring. He just said his opinion about Bush, and all of a sudden, he's the new Black American Hero. Folks are all over it. I think the only reason this is so is because he's a popular black celebrity. Hell, even if 50-Cent said it, he probably would be deemed deep, too. I don't see or understand what the big deal is. Bush not caring about black people is nothing new. The government not coming to the aid of black folks is also not new. Michael Moore punks down the government every day, and more people hate on him and give him less props that they are giving Kanye West now.

I do feel bad about what happened regarding those who survived or didn't survive the hurricane, but I personally would like a break from hearing about either what he said or Hurricane Katrina, but the only way by cutting myself off completely from the media. Maybe I need to do that. Then, I wouldn't have to hear about Kanye and his oh-so wonderful speech again.

Hello!

Hello! Welcome to My World! Sit back, relax and stay a spell! :)