That’s crap-tastic….

I’m such a contradiction at times. I say that I hate something, but deep down… I really love it!

Cast in point, I have a love/hate relationship with the Salt–N-Pepa “reality” (I use that term loosely) show. It’s not the worst celebrity reality show (well it’s not as bad as Flavor of Love and its various spin offs), but the show is a bit contrived. Honestly, sometimes it looks as though they are actually reading lines off a teleprompter!

If you haven’t seen the show, I’ll give you a quick recap—the show is about how old school rappers Salt-N-Pepa have agreed to make amends and work at becoming close friends again (psst..they weren’t the closest of friends after Salt decided to break up the group about 7 years ago and didn’t tell Pepa why). Each episode not so cleverly displays situations to get them as tight as they were back in the day.

Cheryl “Salt” James is the good, church going ex-rapper, who promotes family values, and Sandy “Pepa” Denton is the single ex-rapper who’s still trying to relive her old rapping glory days.

Each episode begins with an event that they have to do together. Throughout the show Salt will complain that Pepa is too wild and Pepa will complain that Salt is too boring.

Honestly, the plot is not complicated, but for some sick reason I enjoy watching the show. It could be that I used to listen to their music when I was younger and it’s cool to see them all grown up and going on with their lives…. actually, that ain’t it. I really have no good reason for liking this show. I just do.

The second object of my odd love/hate relationship is with is Snoop’s new song, Sensual Seduction.

The very first time that I saw the video, I thought that it was a joke…a parody or something strictly for the youtube audiences. C’mon, have you seen the video? Snoop’s crooning while he’s wearing 70s pimp-esque clothing. That was the funniest thing that I’ve seen in a long time!

Then I started hearing the song on the radio and I realized that it wasn’t a joke, it is in fact a real song.

As tacky as the video is and the outrageousness of the lyrics,

I’m gonna take my time!
She gon' get hers before I...
I’m gonna take it slow..ow..oo..ow,
I’m not gonna rush to stroll, so she can get a...
Sensual seduction-duction so she can get a..
Sensual seduction-duction ooh whoa!
So she can get a sensual seduction-duction duction
Sensual seduction-duction ooh whoa!

I have come to like this song. It’s catchy, it’s foolish and I love it! This song is all about Snoop pleasuring his lady. Not a lot of substance there, but I can’t help but sing along to this song…. Yes, I know it ain’t right! Don’t judge me! Until my next entry….

peace and love,

michelle

Forwards are not real emails!

I bumped into an old friend on the bus the other day and she looked a little upset with me. I asked her what was up and she said that I never respond to her e-mails. I kinda knew that she would be a little upset considering that she sent me at least 10 for the year that I haven’t responded to. But she only sends me forwards!!! I told her that I tend not to respond to forwards since they aren’t “real” e-mails.

I went on to tell her that I wanted to know what was going on in her life. I did not care to get funny cartoons that she e-mailed me and the rest of people on her looong contact list.

I know that I sound a little insensitive, especially since I’ve known the girl since elementary school, but I hate forwards. I only seem to get corny jokes, chain letters or inspirational e-mails from my friend and I was hoping to get updates on her life.

After my tirade on why I hate forwards, I decided to send and e-mail to my friend, and I hope and pray that she responds without a forward.

Until my next entry….

peace and love,

michelle

Happy Black History Month!

In honour of Black History Month, I thought that I would briefly speak about an issue that has been getting a lot of attention—Black focused schools.

Although I don’t have children, I am very much concerned about the ridiculously high dropout rate among black children. Forty per cent of black students drop out of high school!? I find that number unfathomable.

Like most kids, I hated school when I was younger. I didn’t like elementary school and I was counting down the seconds until I got out of high school. But even though I hated every second of school, I knew that I had to at least finish high school in order to have a chance at a future, as I didn’t want to work retail for the rest of my life. It also helped that my mother was and is a positive role model and stressed the importance of school. I eventually finished high school and graduated from university.

That being said, there are many factors concerning the dropout rate among black students. I know that having black focused schools will not solve the problem of the astronomically high dropout rate, but I see it as a part of the solution—a step in the right direction. Getting young people excited about school and education will only help them in the long run. Especially if they learning material that speaks about their people and culture.

I don’t think that have a black focused school is a form of segregation, because it’s up to the individual to choose which school they want to go to. They have the choice to go to a black focused school or to a multi-racial school.

I have heard and read many opinions on this topic, but I would find it more valuable to find out what are youths really want out of their education.

Until my next entry…

peace & love,

michelle

Happy New Year!

Okay, I’m a little late, but I still had to say Happy New Year as this is my first official entry for ’08.

I love the beginning of the year. It’s during this time that we have a chance to start new things, set new goals for ourself, or rid ourselves of the things (…sometimes people) that are not beneficial to our spirit.

Last year I created a list of the things that I wanted to achieve. By doing that I was able to keep motivated and strive to achieve my goals. Crossing off the goals that I achieved made me motivated to accomplish more of my goals. I’ve created one for 2008, and I am happy to say that I have happily scratched off a couple things off my list. Woo hoo!

Hope that your year is starting off well.

Until my next entry…

peace and love

michelle

A few shopping suggestions…

I’m not one to post product reviews on my blog. I usually reserve that for my website www.happygrrls.com (shameless promotion!), but I am more than willing to speak about a few products that I LOVE!!!!

Well, the first thing that I am obsessing over is the Olive Oil body butter by The Body Shop. Man, this is soooooooooo good! I bought a gift pack containing 3 mini body butters and I ended up keeping this one. I had no idea that I would love it sooo much. It has a fresh clean scent and it feels like heaven on my skin. I have extra dry skin, and this body butter hydrates my skin like crazy. This is my fave new product.

The next thing that I am loving is a hot new lip gloss from Cargo Cosmetics. I recently tried their South Beach Lip Gloss Quad and I swear that they had me in mine when they created it.

The colours are great. They range from a flirty pale pink to a glossy bronze. They all work great on my skin tone. Just like the pic of the Olive Oil body butter, my lip gloss is practically gone. I will definitely hit the mall to stock up on this.

Last but not least, since I am such a huge Cargo Cosmetics fan, I wanted to let you know that they have the cutest greeting cards with a gift built in. Each card contains a sample of lip gloss. Ain’t that cute? You know I was all over that!

So these were just a few suggestions of things to buy that special person on your list.

Until my next entry…

peace & love

michelle

Goodbye, Papa Joe…

Please forgive me if this post isn’t the most eloquent. I just came back from a funeral and I’m feeling a little out of sorts. My best friend’s grandfather died this past week, and he was laid to rest this afternoon.

Believe it or not, this was my first funeral. I’ve never gone to one before. And because of that, I was nervous about going. I wasn’t too sure how I was going to react to the whole thing.

As soon as I entered the cemetery and heard the somber music, I completely lost it. It was also seeing my friend—who is normally a rock (she’s ridiculously strong), breakdown, made the tears stream down my cheek. I felt her pain. I couldn’t stop crying. I’m sure that everyone at the funeral was wondering why I was taking it extra hard, especially since he wasn’t even my grandfather, but I knew how close my friend was with her grandfather, and losing him would really affect her. I felt so guilty for not being strong for my friend. I went to console her and sadly, she was actually making me feel better. I’m sooo not the person to have in a tragic situation.

After the tears, we fixed ourselves and were able to joke around as usual. I’m sooo happy that I conquered my fear of funerals and went and was able to see my friend through her loss.

Until my next entry…

peace & love,

michelle

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It’s been a loooong time since I posted an entry, eh? Soooorrry! Due to my busy schedule (lie!), I haven’t had the chance to update my blog.

Many things have happened since I last wrote an entry. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I will say that one of the most important things that happened was that I re-entered the workforce after my joyful self imposed exodus. Yes, I know that I declared that I would never work for the man again, but I realized that I need to supplement my freelance cash with some secure cash. And the only way to do that was to get a 9-5.

I obtained a job in mid August (exactly a week and a half after I got back from ATL) and I must admit that I actually like it. I help job seekers with career planning and aid them in finding employment (ironic, eh?!). It’s a contract position so I will be back to being the carefree freelance writer soon enough.

But like usual, I promise you that I will update my blog on a regular basis. Let me know when I’m getting too lazy!

Until my next entry…

peace and love

michelle