We got invited to a lime by one of our friends. We spent last year with them, a big family lime. It’s one of Chris’s friends but I’ve also known him separately since I was in my early teens. I actually used to think we were related. Anyway he said the words smoked pork and that was pretty much all I needed to hear. I’m there.
I just saw someone described as a mystery and I asked myself, Am I a mystery? And then I figured if I was, I’d probably know because people would always be trying to figure me out, but that’s not happening so I guess I solved that mystery.
We’re going to this sort of party tomorrow night. It’s a public thing but within an artsy crowd. Should be nice. Better than staying home. We’ve been doing too much of that lately.
I got back into the studio today and got my head back into work mode. It already yielded a new order so that was good.
I think I need to get a complete physical. I find myself just way too tired lately, especially in the mornings. I might just need vitamins or something but I’d rather make sure everything’s ok. I just haven’t been feeling 100% myself for a while now.
I’m still upset about that lime I went to where all the women believed Bill Cosby was innocent. I think because I took it very personally. Because somebody drugged and raped me and I was blamed for it too. And if I lived in a world that was willing to lay the responsibility at the feet of people who rape instead of blaming people who get raped then the world would feel like a much safer place for people like me. But it’s not and so we feel as though we are constantly having to hear people, in many different ways, tell us we deserved it and that we are liars. And that’s what I felt like that night.
Old me would have dropped a truth bomb on them and made everyone uncomfortable. Current me just left the room, because when you’re dealing with people who think that way there’s no point in talking.
My birthday is on Sunday. I turn 43. I often feel like I have so little to show for my life. Especially material things. I feel as though I’m so far behind everyone my age. I try not to let it worry me. I’m not alone. I have support. But I’d love to experience some true and consistent prosperity at this stage of my life. I am working very hard towards that. I believe in myself. That’s probably the thing I like about myself the most, my unshakable faith that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.
I felt the presence of my paternal ancestors as I typed those words. It was very powerful. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Good energies. They stand behind me in support. Ase.
It always happens that it’s late at night and Chris is sleeping that some stupid post crosses my dash and I have to stifle my laughter and try not to choke as I do my best not to wake him up.
Whenever those share if you’ve lost someone to cancer posts go around on Facebook, I never fucking share them. I don’t donate to the cause I don’t participate in cancer walks, I don’t do one fucking thing. And I don’t feel guilty about it because I know why. I cannot deal with it. I can’t deal with anything to do with fucking cancer, and if I never heard that word again it would be too soon. I want nothing to do with it.
I’m really good at giving advice. Even my therapist says so. And I used to be the go-to person for giving advice. But I’ve stopped doing it. Now if people ask for advice I ask them questions to make them think. Because I’d rather empower someone to figure out their own solutions. Cause I had to, and it made me learn to trust myself. But more than that, nothing that anyone ever told me ever stuck with me as profoundly as the lessons I learnt through experience and self reflection. So I’m done with dispensing advice. I like having answers but I’d rather people find their own.
I have errands to run today and I’m having a really hard time getting mobilized. I have no get up and go today.
I’ve been following a local story for the past few days about a guy who went for a swim on the North Coast and disappeared on Christmas Day (or Eve I’m not sure). I don’t know him but it seems a lot of people I know on Facebook do. They found his body today. So tragic. My heart goes out to his family.
I stopped being sentimental about New Years a long time ago. Let’s face it, it’s just another day. If you’re really committed to making changes in your life you don’t need a new year to begin. Just begin.
I miss my family. I especially miss my niece. She’s such a sweet child, a joy to be around. I really enjoyed the time I spent with her. I’m excited about the impending arrival of my nephew in March. But I’m bummed I won’t see him until December of next year. California is far and it’s expensive to fly there.
Sometimes it really feels like the whole world is going to shit. And I think it is. But on a larger scale I think what’s happening is the dismantling of the old systems and the emergence of the new. And the old establishments are fighting very hard to stay in power. It will get worse before it gets better. But the systems in place can no longer survive. The economic, religious and racial institutions have to change. Equality must be the currency of the future. And there are many who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. But there are more who are fighting for change. It will come. But it won’t come easy.
I’ve been trying to think of a way to sum up this year. But to be honest since I launched my jewelry business in June it’s all been a huge blur. I’ve just been VERY BUSY. It’s been a challenging year for me, but one in which I saw a tremendous amount of growth and change, all for the better. I think I had a good year. But I don’t remember much of it right now. I need to step back a bit to see it.
So attention police: feel free to race up in your cruiser and execute someone seconds later without even talking to them, because that’s the way we do things in America now, I guess.
Last night we were at a lime with some people and the topic of Bill Cosby came up. All of the men were of the opinion that he was most definitely guilty. Every single one of the women took the position that the now 50-plus women who have accused him of drugging and raping them were lying. Every single one.
Their attitude was callous, cynical. They all had something to gain, they were using him, they just want money, they asserted.
I reminded that that the statute of limitations had long run out and they could not possibly prosecute him. What could they gain at this point? They all shrugged.
I was left wondering why women are so hard on other women. That they couldn’t even entertain the idea that even one of these women might be telling the truth. Why? I ended up having to leave the room, I couldn’t continue to hear them speak about these women that way. I felt really disgusted.
We finally put that turkey in the oven. Might be another couple of hours. It’s hard to judge time cause I’ve been watching that new Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Revenant and I got so absorbed I feel like I’ve been in 1800’s North America freezing my ass off for the past five days. It’s been rough y’all.
Shop, generally. In Canada, there are sales equivalent to America’s Black Friday.
Also, most people have another “special” meal – often Boxing Day is when you get to socialize with friends, versus family.
Like, we are in Palm Springs this year so we can’t attend any of the Boxing Day things our friends are hosting, but one family we know is hosting a potluck lunch and another is putting on a dinner buffet thing.
I have always really liked Boxing Day because it is a day off like Xmas (unless you work retail), but without the pressure and family obligations, and if you avoid the Mall, it is very relaxing. It lets you decompress and come down gently from the hustle and bustle of the lead-up to Christmas. Plus there is always good food!
Same here. Boxing Day is like Christmas-lite. Relaxing, lots of food, no having to do anything. Just another holiday.
I’ve decided to have a year end sale on my Copperhead Paracord Etsy! The sale runs until the end of December.
Please use “50TUMBLR” at the time of checkout for 50% off your entire order.
What is paracord? Well I am glad you asked.
Paracord is parachute cord, and I use it to craft everything from bracelets to guitar straps. I use 550 spec paracord, meaning that it has a test strength of 550 pounds.
Have a peek below for images of some of the things I have made in the past.
If you can’t purchase, please pass this post along in a reblog! Thank You!
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.”
This is a humble request to all those who come across this post, PLEASE REBLOG IT to bring awareness. My dad was traveling from New York to Long Beach and the passenger seated next to my dad filmed and uploaded a video of him sleeping. He titled the video, “Would You Feel Safe Flying With Bin Laden. Many Sikhs are mistake for Muslims due to the similar appearance. But Sikhs and Muslims are two entirely different and independent religions. No one Sikh, Christian,Muslim, Hindu, Jew, etc. should ever be targeted in such a belittling manner. It is NOT okay to target an individual based on appearance. Guru Nanak Dev Ji preached love and equality to all of mankind. As Sikhs, it is our duty to uphold these values and to support those who have been wronged. Please repost this to all social media sites to bring awareness to the local community about who we are and to create a safe environment for all individuals regardless of caste, creed, and religion. Also please report this video to YouTube to have it removed. Thank you so much and with all of our combined effort we will be able to move mountains and create a loving and safe environment for all individuals.
I had the Pantone charts at my desk one day when one of my co-workers came up with the brilliant idea to figure out what our skin colours were. So we sat there giggling while trying to match our skin tone to the samples.
I think mine was 64-5C
These are things only graphic designers would find fun I’m sure.
I’m not even feeling the tiniest bit Christmassy this year. Even after going to Disney.
BUT unlike the past four years, I am not feeling that thing in my heart, in my stomach.
My Dad got diagnosed right before Christmas 2011 and I immediately got this hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach that never went away. It was terror. And then anger and grief. And after he died more of that.
This is the first time in four years that Christmas has come around and my heart feels at peace.
So I don’t mind so much that I haven’t been able to muster up much Christmas spirit. I’m not sad. I’m not angry. And that’s enough for me.
Finished. Simple ring but deceptively challenging to set. Still a keeper. Will try another with an aqua aura quartz crystal #ring #handmade #crystals #goldfilled #jewelry
I’m so disgusted by Forever21. I don’t have many followers so I’m kinda showing this to all of the popular black blogs that I follow. I want awareness to spread. This is NO coincidence.
I SAID THE SAME THIS THIS MORNING. I WAS/AM LIVID.
“My greatest memory was taking Harrison Ford to a Nigerian restaurant in South East London. And this guy comes up to him and says ‘Are you Harrison Ford?’ and Harrison Ford goes ‘I used to be.’”
When my half sister came to visit I took her to my parents’ home to see some family photos.
We have one large framed photo of our paternal great grandfather. It’s black and white but had some had hand coloring in the eyes mostly.
I was telling her that he was a redhead (he was white Australian) and she got really excited.
Her husband is a redhead and their daughter Lily came out with red hair too. But apparently you have to have red hair on both sides of the family to inherit it, so she always wondered where it came from. Her mother’s family is Irish and they all have black hair. So she was thrilled to finally find out where the red hair on her side had come from.
I know she knew WHO her father was but she knew very little about the family. I’ve often wondered what it was like for her growing up not knowing half her origins. I intend to make copies of all the pictures and send them to her. She is very obviously one of us, the family resemblance is so strong. Now she’ll be able to have family pictures and see her own face reflected back at her.
How is it only Tuesday? This week feels like it’s dragging.
I meant to take this week off from work and rest. But I can’t. I’m bored. Doing housework and chores. Watching movies. I’m itching to get back in the studio and start making new stuff. I’m getting antsy. I’ll go back in tomorrow.
I also feel like baking but I am trying my best to keep still and rest my back. Plus I only have one egg and my car’s at the mechanic.
An astonishingly irreverent piece of work. This triptych features the artist dropping a Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) in three photographs.
When questioned about the work, he suggested that the piece was about industry: “[The urn] was industry then and is industry now.” His statement, therefore, was that the urn was just a cheap pot two thousand years ago, and the reverence we feel toward it is artificial. One critic wrote: “In other words, for all the aura of preciousness acquired by the accretion of time (and skillful marketing), this vessel is the Iron Age equivalent of a flower pot from K-Mart and if one were to smash the latter a few millennia from now, would it be an occasion for tears?”
However, the not-so-subtle political undertone is clear. This piece was about destroying the notion that everything that is old is good… including the traditions and cultures of China. For Ai Weiwei, this triptych represents a moment in which culture suddenly shifts (sometimes violently), shattering the old and outdated to make room for the new.
If you ask a white teenager, you might get the answer, “Four hundred years ago.” But that’s not the answer. Four hundred years ago was 1615, when the Jamestown colony had only existed for eight years and chattel slavery was just beginning.
Others might say, “When Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, of course.” But that’s not right either. That only freed slaves in Confederate territory seized by the Union. The Union slave states—Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and the then-in-formation West Virginia—were exempt and allowed to keep their slaves, along with Tennessee, which had more or less been returned to the Union, and Union-loyal areas of Louisiana (including New Orleans) and coastal Virginia. Because it was unenforceable in most of the Confederate states, only about 1-2% of slaves were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
“Well, then,” they might say, “it was definitely when the Thirteenth Amendment was passed.” And still, they would be wrong. While that pivotal law did free the vast majority of America’s slaves, the text of the law is this: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.“
So when did slavery end in America? The answer is, “Never.”
As discussed in the PBS documentary Slavery By Another Name (available in full by clicking the link), as the federal government withdrew funding and support for Reconstruction, the South began a system of leasing prisoners—allowed by law to be used as slaves—to the plantations to replace their free labor. Those affected by this system were treated even worse than those held in bondage under slavery before the Civil War, as slaves were an expensive investment—the $800 average cost of a slave in 1860 is roughly $21,000 in today’s dollars—but leased prisoners were replaced by the prison if killed and payment continued as scheduled, deincentivizing what little humane treatment was afforded slaves.
It was so profitable and in such high demand that, within ten years of its implementation, the stereotype of black people in America had changed. Prior to the Civil War, the stereotype of black people was that we were inherently docile, servile, and loyal. This only makes sense, because if we were viewed as inherently violent and thieving and criminal like we are today, why would they have trusted us with their livelihoods, their crops, and their children? (Side note: this is also where the stereotype of black people loving watermelon came from—the idea that if we were just given a cool slice of watermelon on a hot day, we would work forever). But once they were no longer allowed to own us outright and had to lease us from prisons, police and judges did everything in their power to make sure they had a robust source of free labor. Black people were arrested on false or trumped-up charges, and within ten years, the recorded arrest and conviction rate for black people had skyrocketed so much that the stereotype was entirely inverted from what it had been previously.
The prison system may have stopped leasing prisoners to plantations, but they still lease prison labor to corporations and local governments. Prisoners—primarily black, of course, because we are targeted—are forced to fight wildfires, manufacture consumer goods, and even make goat cheese for Whole Foods. Our economy was built on slave labor, and it still runs on it to a disconcerting extent. And to make that work, black and Latino neighborhoods are targeted by law enforcement and manipulated through things like school closings and schools being unfathomably underfunded to ensure an ever-growing population of prisoners, an ever-growing population of slaves.
So the next time someone asks you when slavery ended in America, tell them the truth. Tell them, “Never.”
reblogging this again because it’s so good and so important to know
Curled up in bed before 9pm. Chris is wrapped around me already asleep. I’m gonna read for a bit. If you’d told me three years ago this would be my life I’d have thought you were lying. But here we are. And it’s perfect.
I was talking to our neighbours downstairs and they were telling me that their son was taking their granddaughter to Disney next year (yeah the kid I’m always bitching about).
She was sitting right there so I asked her if she was excited to see Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
*blank stare*
Then I changed my tactic, remembering that I was dating myself, and asked her what her favourite princess was.
She lit up like a lightbulb and immediately exclaimed, “Ariel!”
It’s all about the princesses these days man. A lot of the “rides” are now more meet and greet the princess opportunities. On our first day at Magic Kingdom after we had taken my niece on a bunch of rides she piped up with, “Ok but I’m not seeing enough princesses,” and so we had to scurry around to find some.
The characters don’t walk through the parks anymore like they used to. They used to be everywhere. Now you have to meet them at designated spots at designated times and line up for a hug and a picture. It’s all very controlled now compared to how it used to be.
We did book a breakfast at Epcot where a bunch of princesses come around to your table and take pictures with you. It was really fun and I think my sister and I were more excited than my niece was in all honesty. The food was really good too. It was a great way to get her to meet as many princesses in one place as possible.
I miss how I used to be though. But then of course I would right?
I have no idea who y’all are talking about, who catfished who, but if y’all wanna tell me what that was all about feel free to message me.
Upmarket sales were slow. I did well but only because I sold some expensive pieces. Note to self: make more of those.
I think it’s time to go see a specialist about my back. The pain isn’t letting up. Scoliosis sucks.
I’m taking some time off work. I’m exhausted. Plus the house isn’t gonna clean itself. Steups.
I’m not much of a fandom sort of person so most of the time when people are geeking out about something I feel left out, annoyed or indifferent. But Star Wars is my thing. So I’m really enjoying being part of the joy of this new movie. And the response is well deserved, that’s what makes it all better.
I’ve added a new oil impasto brush to the shop tonight ’Sugar knife’ Although it applies much like a traditional brush, the texture is more Palette knife-like with it’s layered flat slabs of paint. I promise a break from the oil brushes tomorrow when I will be adding the first pencil in what seems like forever.
I feel like I can’t seem to recover from my “vacation” to Orlando. It was incredibly tiring. And I was tired and sick before I got there. Coming back I threw myself into work and I have UpMarket tomorrow and that’s always a long exhausting day. I thought after Sunday I could relax but I keep getting new orders. I am absolutely not complaining. But I really need a real vacation. I feel like I am tired all the time lately.
I get really pissed off when people want to decide what other people should care about. Oh there are more important issues than this. This is irrelevant. The world is going to shit but you’re protesting about this?
Who’s to say what people should care about? The irony is that the same people bitching never seem to protest anything but other people protesting. Stay in your fucking lane.
My kids want to see Force Awakens, but they haven’t seen Episodes 4-6 since they were very wee. Could someone see the movie and enjoy it fully without a solid understanding/memory of the older movies, or do you really need the canon to understand what’s going on?
Absolutely. It was more an introduction of new characters, but lots of old references.
Definitely. They tie back to the original trilogy but explain the backstory enough so that someone new to it would get it.
I’ve been getting a lot of requests for engagement rings lately. Seems like love is in the air. It makes me happy.
I just mailed out one today. It wasn’t a custom order, just one of the rings I had listed on my site. But it made me really happy that one of my pieces would be part of a marriage proposal.
I keep forgetting that Christmas hasn’t passed yet.
For many years our family did our Christmas get together in Christmas week. We did it early this year because my niece had to spend Christmas with her father’s family this year. So my Christmas kind of already came and went.
I’m in a weird Christmas limbo type place. *shrug* We’re not doing anything special this year so. My mom AND her two sisters will be out of the country. So it’s kind of whatever.
It I’m really happy to see all the great reviews coming in for the new Star Wars movie.
I didn’t watch a single preview for it, so I went in knowing nothing. I also didn’t really have any expectations. It served me well.
The truth is that as far as I am concerned, the new movies after the original trilogy never counted. I didn’t even watch Phantom Menace and I was unimpressed with the other two. I simply could not connect emotionally.
This one? Immediate connection. Great casting for starters. The script was also wonderful. But my favourite part was all the nods it gave to the original trilogy. From to score to the cinematography, it really feels like a true continuation. And of course there are many moments in the story itself that draw us back to those first three movies with sentiment and humour. It’s truly one for the fans, old ones and new. The more I think about it, the more I love it. I want to see it again.
“I’m grounded in who I am, and I am a confident black man. A confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man,” he said. “I’m proud of my heritage, and no man can take that away from me. I wasn’t raised to fear people with a difference of opinion. They are merely victims of a disease in their mind. To get into a serious dialogue with people who judge a person based on the melanin in their skin? They’re stupid, and I’m not going to lose sleep over people.”
“I just don’t get it. You guys got every single alien in this movie imaginable to man. With tentacles, five eyes. Aliens that, if they existed, we’d definitely have an issue,” he said. “We’d have to get them to the government and be, like, ‘What are you?’ Yet what you want to do is fixate on another human being’s color. You need to go back to school and unlearn what you have learned.”
Chris came home early. He was falling asleep at work. I’m gonna order us a pizza and put us both to bed. Clearly we are at that age where we can no longer survive on three hours of sleep.
soulsistrin 