THE ART OF WAR

I have been to this restaurant once. The food was awful. Both my girlfriend and I were dissatisfied and barely ate our meals. After we ate all of that garbage we could we went somewhere else to eat. We went there just to be L.A. and to see what the hype was about. If you make that decision, please only order dessert. L.A. has high priced restaurants that serve good food. Use your money there.

While waiting for our food we pondered the ownership of the IVY. It’s called the IVY and it had pink and green matches. That was the restaurants only saving grace for my soror and I.

I have seen recent photos of Star Jones at the IVY. She looks to be in serious pain for that photo op. It is known that stars only go there to be seen. Considering how cold it has been in L.A. and knowing Star doesn’t do cold without a fur, we can conclude she was there to show that she is ALIVE. I’m guessing she dug Al up to join her. If he hadn’t been rushed to emergency in NYC that same day, her press release probably would have said “Al was by her side.”

I think it was last week that the L.A. news reported that Star almost died from sugery complications. That she lost so much blood that an amublance had to rush her to a nearby hospital because the blood loss almost caused a heart attack.

Star admits to needing a blood transfusion because she is anemic. What type of vanity leads a person to get elective surgery that they know could lead to complications?

I always tell my guy “women will get you killed” now I’ll have to tell my kids “vanity will get you killed”

I actually like Star, but I’m annoyed when people pretend they are fat because of things they can’t control. Then they go get the surgery and seem shocked that losing 150 lbs in 3 months results in them having pounds of loose skin.

Someone please, pretty please, tell me this is a skit and not a real news show. Why would the news feature THIS?
As a people we must teach our cousins to walk away from the mic, walk away from the camera. They love to present the worst of us.

Stolen from Pinkivy81.blogspot.com

I won’t label myself as a Beyonce fan, but I like her talent. I admire her hard work, I acknowledge her looks helped her career. I’m watching Beyonce Revealed on VH1 and heard her mention the song she wrote for Charlie’s Angels.

I am troubled that she takes credit for “Independent Women” the song. Didn’t she steal the entire idea, plus some lyrics from Amil, Jay Z’s old girl? Remember when Amil did the duet with Beyonce? I liked the song & the video. I thought it was cute.

Perhaps Beyonce wrote her own lyrics for “I Got That.” but the only difference in the song is Amil says “I Got That”, Destiny Child says, “I got it” or do they say “I bought it”?

In Amil’s “I Got That” Beyonce says:

I got that
The house that you live in
I got that
The bed that you sleep in
I got that
The benz that you’re driving
I got that, I got that
I got that
The ice that you’re wearing
I got that
So why you complaining
I got that
Who you gaming?
I got that, I got that
I got that

If you recall Independent Women lyrics its pretty much the same song.

ain’t    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (nt)
Nonstandard

1. Contraction of am not.
2. Used also as a contraction for are not, is not, has not, and have not.

Usage Note: Ain’t has a long history of controversy. It first appeared in 1778, evolving from an earlier an’t, which arose almost a century earlier as a contraction of are not and am not. In fact, ain’t arose at the tail end of an era that saw the introduction of a number of our most common contractions, including don’t and won’t. But while don’t and won’t eventually became accepted at all levels of speech and writing, ain’t was to receive a barrage of criticism in the 19th century for having no set sequence of words from which it can be contracted and for being a “vulgarism,â€? that is, a term used by the lower classes, although an’t at least had been originally used by the upper classes as well. At the same time ain’t’s uses were multiplying to include has not, have not, and is not, by influence of forms like ha’n't and i’n't. It may be that these extended uses helped fuel the negative reaction. Whatever the case, criticism of ain’t by usage commentators and teachers has not subsided, and the use of ain’t is often regarded as a sign of ignorance. ·But despite all the attempts to ban it, ain’t continues to enjoy extensive use in speech. Even educated and upper-class speakers see no substitute in folksy expressions such as Say it ain’t so and You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. ·The stigmatization of ain’t leaves us with no happy alternative for use in first-person questions. The widely used aren’t I? though illogical, was found acceptable for use in speech by a majority of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey, but in writing there is no acceptable substitute for the stilted am I not?
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

When I went to college in So. Cal the kids told me only people from up North said “hecka.” L.A. people said “hella.”

It was true, whenever I said it people knew my origins.

Yesterday was hecka rough for me.

I had a 2:2o dr.s appt in San Francisco and a 5:3o flight out of Oakland.

It was touch and go but I made my flight. Fortunately most days it is possible to get to the Oakland airport 20 minutes before your flight time. I arrived 20 minutes before my flight time. They did get on the speaker and call my name but I was right there.

I arrive in L.A. and my guy has another bag for me. This time a white designer track suit, with pink and green accents. He said he could not pass it by. I LOVE IT. Thanks baby. It is gorgeous. I’m smiling writing about it.

We get to class late because my plane didn’t land until 6:45. He hates being late, but as I told him we weren’t that late. We get to class about 5 minutes past 7 and they hadn’t begun. He wasn’t soothed because he likes to be timely even if no one else is.

Class was good. Did I tell you we have a new instructor? She was formerly an accountant at a financial management firm, so giving her these areas makes great sense. Last nights topic was finance. We have an accountant and a loan officer/banker in the class so it was very educational.

The entire class liked the 3 pot mode of sharing finances. My guy and I agreed on that along time ago. The instructor had us list the pro’s and con’s of the 2 pot method (each person keeping their money seperate and splitting costs) and no one had any pros. Other’s thought like me “that is a roomate.” We thought the one pot would be too tricky because of technology.

The instructor said she and her husband used the 3 pot method.

After class we stayed to chat. The guy B and his fiance B left. As we were walking down the street my guy said something about B. Turns out all the guys were disturbed by his comments about women and babies. They had all told their mates the same thing.

One guy said he was thinking he was alone in his feelings about the guy but everyone concurred that the sentiments were shared. Everyone agreed that his comments were taking away from our learning

My guy told them he had $100 on it, if anyone else wanted to chip in and award them with the gift of fastrack class.

I took photos of San Francisco, I’ll try to upload them today. For some reason I hate going to S.F. but when I get there I always enjoy how pretty it is, how busy, how clean, fresh and brisk the air is. I bet some folks look at how close the houses are and think it’ s awful but I love the way they are built. For me that is what adds to the charm. Yesterday was also a surprisingly nice day, I wasn’t freezing.

Pics of San Francisco, Bart and West Oakland from the Bart train. The West Oakland photo is has the cranes in the backgroung that inspired George Lucas to dream of Star Wars.

More commonly known as regentrification (sp)

Last night in class I learned that one of our classmates lives in a city probably 60 miles distant of L.A. She stays with a her grandmother on class nights.

After class I was asking my guy why folks would move way out there. He and I had a discussion about people (colored folks) who move 1) for cheaper housing 2) to follow the white people.

So I pondered why white folks give up their neighborhoods when we come along. He said the white folks who left their neighborhood probably had a copy of the master plan. Last night we gave it a title “How to keep away from black folks for at least 25 years and make money in the process.”

When my sister was in college (PWI) her sociology professor told the class the plan in the Bay Area, but it can be seen everywhere, was for the minorities who had taken over the cities to move out to the suburbs. The plan eventually would see skyrocketing gas prices making it tough for folks to travel back into the city from those suburbs. While minorities were buying in the ‘burbs the white people would buy cheap inner city homes, move back and eventually be back in control of the city. Housing prices in the city would skyrocket making it difficult for minorities to get back in.

I believed it. Back in high school I read one of those Toni Morrison books. The one where the blacks lived on the water and desired to live away from the water with the whites. The blacks arrived in the white neighborhood and then the white people had waterfront property. Since reading that book I always saw a possibility of a plan.

Is it something in the nature of some black folks that make us flee difficulty instead of confronting it? I think most of the people I know left because of crime, schools, and the lure of more house for the money. I respect people’s right to live where they want but things I can impact like my money, my community, my childs education, those will never be reasons I leave.

Now seeing that I’m a girl that loves to be near bodies of water, if I was landlocked I’d move because I can’t build a ocean.

Now these folks who moved, have crime, mediocre schools, a larger house, plus long expensive commutes in traffic.

PREMARITAL- Last nights topic was Sex in Marriage. It was a very interesting and uplifting session. We have a new counselor. The whole class worked together to keep the hyper dude calm. One girl relayed a message that she’d heard “fiances and husbands make love to your mate outside the bedroom” she was explaining the context and hyper dude raised his hand. She stopped midsentence looked at him and said “Not literally B*****, I saw your eyes.”

We also discovered that when B&B met he was allergic to her. He couldn’t get near her for weeks without having an allergic reaction. I guess she didn’t see that as a hint.

Next week is finance.