BIOPIC

B2 I1 O1 P3 I1 C3 - a biographical movie - Double letter, triple word score 42 points

(I'm trying to stay on top of my blog a day or at least 5 days a week so I am getting my words from http://www.scrabble.com/ and their word of the day to generate ideas for my entries)

Truth be told, I've never thought about who would play me if Hollywood ever decided to make a movie about me. I would have enough problems trying to figure out what they would discuss in the movie.

As I kid I different from other kids in a sense. I was a lot quieter than others (not so different) but I couldn't stand rap when it was just making a name for itself (a little bit more different). I would rather listen to The Temptations than Run DMC and considered rap to be nonsense (pretty much the same way I think about most of rap/"hip hop" now). Didn't have time for slumber parties with friends, I was more about having one on one time with some scary ass Stephen King novel or my mom's human sexuality books at about 10 or 11.

The older I got, I guess the more I tried to assimilate into the crowd at school and my neighborhood...I started dressing the same, listening to the same music, reciting the same phrases, performing the same dances. But, I still tried to keep my individuality as much as I could (via other music I listened too and my obsessive love affair with books) and privacy (despite how much I would hang out with peers).

Once I got into college, I still tried to do the whole assimilation thing, but rediscovered my individuality and uniqueness in my studies and what I wanted to do with my life. Instead of being a doctor like my mom wanted and a lawyer like my dad wanted, I got my degree in Africology and used it to have a small career in teaching. Eventually, the teaching gig fell apart but my love for it is still there and I still use my training and education in education to help family members and friends with their school and teacher issues.

Now, I'm in my 30s (wow!) and have a baby now and my life has once again changed. I live not only for me but for my mini me as well. I haven't lost hold of my dreams, but because of her, they have been renewed and I want to actually fulfil them instead of just discussing them. I guess my life is really beginning and there are many chapters I have left to fill. Hell I'm barely through chapter three and I really don't think it would be fair to do a biopic on me because I really don't have 2 hours and $10 worth of film in me...yet.

Oh and by the way, I think I'd probably have Queen Latifah play me.

FEELINGS

F4 E1 E1 L1 I1 N1 G2 S1 - Double letter, double word score 26 points

At my job, we have a mandatory dress code now: business casual, jeans on Fridays, be careful of cleavage, etc. So I went on a small shopping spree, got some new outfits and dress shoes in order to comply.

Yesterday, when I went to work, I had a different hairdo and was in a fairly cute outfit. One of my co-workers commented on how my appearance: "You look so nice today! You look like you feel good! Do you?"

That took me by surprise because people have commented on how nice I've been looking but never on how I FEEL about how I look. And I had to tell her that I did feel good about how I was looking and feeling. My old "uniform" consisted of sweats, a T-Shirt or sweatshirt and sneakers. I would pull my hair into a puff and then call it a day. But since I've been dressing more "professionally" I have been feeling better about myself.

Plus, I've been taking steps towards getting back in shape after having Princess Leapfrog (because I am a part of Team Chunk stand the fuck up! - ty Fresh): I've been eating better (well at least 80% better), am on the road to not smoking anymore, and am taking a funkareobics class starting next week. It's the first time in a LONG time that I've taken time out to do something for ME instead of for someone else: my baby, mom, aunt, whoever.

Not that I mind doing things for others, because I really don't. But I realized that I really do need to and deserve to do things for myself. That is something that we fail to do once we get grown, get jobs, get families...we tend to just focus on the others and not on what we need to do for self in order to continue helping the others.

So now is the time for me to start paying as much attention to myself as I do to my family, friends, and work. Maybe I'll get back into the mani/pedi combos and start treating myself to an occasional spa day. Getting my hair done by a natural stylist and having him/her massage my scalp definitely sounds like a plan and a date that I need to keep monthly. Like my Momma used to tell me: ain't nobody gonna love you unless you love yourself. So I'm going to start loving me. And feeling good will come a little bit more naturally.

BLACK

B3 L1 A1 C3 K5 - Double Word Score, 26 points

I know that I am doing this out of order (probably because my brain is out of order) but I had to get this one out of me first.

We all know that when we look at the POTUS (for those of you who don't know : President Of The United States) we see a Black man. He describes himself as a Black man. He is married to a Black woman and has two beautiful little Black girls. Yeah we all know that his momma is a White woman and I can't knock him for that because like the rest of us we don't choose who our parents are (not to disrespect her, just trying to preach truth).

So now we have all of these bloggers and writers and other folks who think they know everything (but like my Daddy used to say, they know a whole lot about nothing) have made it a point to state that this man is half white.

To them I want to say this: during his entire campaign all we saw was his White mother. His White grandma and his White grandpa. We barely saw images of his Kenyan (for those of you who don't know this is a COUNTRY in the CONTINENT of Africa) grandmother or his Kenyan (see above) father. We knew by the way he looked that he was at least, like old folks used to say, had one drop in him and we claimed his as ours. So is he half white. Yeah. But, when we look at him what do we see? A Black man whose Blackness (or African-ness, since he is more African than typical "American" Black folk) takes over and is the first thing that you see.

This man ain't passing. Thirty years ago he wouldn't have been able to really express his identiy as a "White" man because his physical make up tells us that he ain't 100% white (or black for that matter). This man has said from his mouth that he is a black man and expressed his pride in being so, as well as representing his whtie family without putting them down. This man realizes that, because of the way that he and his family looks, he will always be viewed as the first Black POTUS (see above again). Only those who are still pissed off about a BLACK man winning the presidency still try to label him as half white (something I have yet to see them do with other folks, for example Halle - she who won an Academy fucking the dogshit outta one of theirs [I'm still pissed at her for making that movie, but I digress]).

I am glad that this man came out saying that even though he is half white, he recognizes what country he lives in and that for as long as he has breath, he will be viewed as a Black man and not as a white man or a black man with a white momma. Just a plain old black man with a black wife and black kids.

Bet you if he was avarage ass Barack from down the street you wouldn't be calling him half white. He'd be a black boy from around the corner.

Get used to it. OUR president is Black. He can't be half white ONLY for your convienence. Hell, we tried that shit with Clinton and y'all still got him.