A Slave and a Spaceship

So...   

I like rap music, but as I get older, I find that I prefer more experimental rap (and of course, old school rap). I in no way can listen to much of any current rap, as I do not understand it. You can have the current "mumble" rap. Take it far away from me, please.

But I like the group Clipping.  It is an industrial noise rap group. Industrial noise rap tends to be a bit too much to me, but I find that this group's music has at least has a little order to it (if "order" is the right word to use). The rapper of the group is an actor in the popular Hamilton broadway play.  When I saw him in clips of Hamilton, I thought "Daveed is a rapper. What is he doing in a play?"

They released a CD earlier this month that I absolutely LOVE.

It's a concept CD, and any time I can find a CD that strings the songs together into a story, I'm a happy Oldgirl.

The name of it is Splendor and Misery, and it's about a slave who takes over a spaceship and his mental and emotional issues concerning the whole ordeal.

And best of all, he is rapping over the sounds of space and the spaceship.

How creative is that? Who would've ever thought of sci-fi rap?

I was washing dishes when I first listened to it. There was much *blink*blink*crickets*blink*blink on my part.  But I like it the more I listen to it. (Maybe that's because I am a big sci-fi fan). There a couple of times that I thought dude was running from some aliens. Yikes. I think I would've dropped a glass in the sink and ran if that happened!

The cover of the CD is unnerving. If you look closely at the man's upper body, he's a astronaut, and his bottom half is that of a slave man (chains and ragged pants).

Ugh.

I gave it a listen. And I liked it. It even wove in some of what I thought were old negro spirituals.

I have had to listen to it a good 10 times to "get it". I am waiting for someone to post up all the lyrics, because I am sure it reads like a long short story of sorts.

And I must say that I enjoy it much. It is most definitely one of my favorite CDs of the year so far. I like every song. And I can count on one hand the number of CDs where I like EVERY song.

Here's a link to the full CD. It's short for a concept CD (some 38 minutes), but it packs a punch. I would have loved if this was made into a visual album. WOW.



Enjoy... if you dare.

RIP Bill Nunn, October 20, 1952 – September 24, 2016

Bill Nunn passed this weekend.

He played many parts in various movies, but when I think of Bill Nunn, I think of Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing!

I also think of The Duh-Duh-Duh man in New Jack City.

I can't believe he was in his 60s. I was always think of him as being the age he was in the two movies above.



RIP Bill Nunn. Gone but never ever forgotten.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Left on My Desk Today...

This was left on my desk today:

I looked around, to and fro.

I don't know who left it, but I whispered what I always whisper when something is left on my desk:

"Blessing. It's a Blessing."

It may be just a bag of puffs... but someone thought of me. And I am thankful for that.

*doing hard gospel sway in my cubicle*

(found out later it was left by The Cowgirl Cre. Thanks, Oldgirl)

Ten Thursday Thoughts

It is that time... Once again for...


TEN.

Thursday. 

THOUGHTS. 


1. My phone knows when I am leaving work and going home. It even gives me an ETA (estimated time of arrival) to work or at home.

I am not sure when this started.  I just think it is... creepy.

2. My cubicle mate, Lady M, is in Swaziland, Africa for a couple of weeks. I miss her much. I am feeling lonely, as I don't deal much with the crews and cliques of the workplace. (I prefer the fringe folks like myself). This makes me want to make sure I leave my desk and go out and socialize with some of my favorite people. Sigh.

With that said, Cowgirl Cre visited my cubicle today! OH JOY!!! 

3. Lunch today was from UberEats! A Thai Salad from Raging Burrito & Taco

Man listen. That was GOOD.  Only $8.50. And the driver got here in 2 or 3 minutes.

4. The driver called, talking about  "I'm turning on your street and I'm heading up the hill."

You had to be there. It was funny. And creepy at the same time. And he was happy I didn't order the sandwich because he wanted the last sandwich for himself.

5. I had some coworkers grind up some tobacco products today. I need it ground to a coarse powder. They were flavored products, so it smelled like an ice cream truck had exploded in the lab. All those grape, cherry, strawberry, and minty smells sent me screaming back to my childhood.

6. What was funny though is that they were debating on the mechanics of weighing all the product. And they made listen to this debate. *crickets*  I don't care what you do. Just as long as I don't have to do all that grinding myself. Do you.

7. This song is CRUNKTASTIC. That is all.  Excuse the bad language.



8. Somebody posted that on Twitter the other day. They'd never heard of it. But the thing is that it is 3 or 4 years old. It was used recently on a Southwest Airlines commercial, so I guess that's what's generating new interest. Still makes me want to jump up and do the running man!

9.Why does this song always put me in a good place?



I think it takes me back to my early teen years where I didn't have a care in the world. And me and my friends would stay up watching this new thing called "music videos".

10.Tomorrow is payday. GLORY.  Oh yeah... and it's Friday, too. I hope I get some work done. The blinds of my mind are half closed on Pay day!

That is it for Ten Thursday Thoughts!

Food-for-Thought/Quote of the Week: On Being Thankful

So...

I am reading a book right now. Thank and Grow Rich by Pam Grout

I haven't gotten far, but I happen to like this author and I read whatever she writes. This happens to be a book on gratitude and thanksgiving. And those are areas where I'm hoping to experience growth. So I gather a few interesting truths from such books and move on...

I came across a most interesting quote, though. It singed my eyebrows, it did.

"When we don't stop daily to inventory all the gazillion things going right in our lives, the crazy voices in our heads try to make us their bitch." 

O_O

That is a STRONG statement.

But is it true?

I think it is.

I hear more people complaining about life than anything else these days. And I look at some of them and I think to myself...

But you have everything.

Everything. Yet they complain about everything.

No, no one has "everything". And we only see the surface parts of most people's lives, and not the visceral details. But I think we look at others and think that. And we tend to look at ourselves and think less. 


I personally think it is, this complaining, a matter of habit. If you complain all the time, then you just didn't start complaining today... It's probably deep rooted. It's probably been going on for years, decades even.

I have a family member that is a constant complainer. I recognized this when I was 8 years old. How do I remember? I remember because it was the subject matter for the the first time I ever journalled. And that was, albeit 2 sentences, what I journalled about.

I have at times, after to listening to someone complain to no end, asked a hard question.

Name 3 good things that happened today.

I have to ask my ownself that from time to time. I journal every night, and those are always good journalling points. Sometimes I will write out a small paragraph, but more times than not, I will fill up a full page or two with all the great things that happened that very day. And I am thankful for that, because when I go back and read my 30-50 pages of journal entries at the end of each month, there is just soooooooo much good that goes on in my life. So much. And it is such a blessing to record it.

That quote is so much about slowing down and examining life. And not entertaining all that negative. It always amazes me how the negative drowns out the positive. I even think it is more just our culture, just drummed into our thinking to always ponder the negative.

But I want to change that, tho.  And it reminds me of one of the parts of my personal vision statement.

"I am well developed, well matured, and well seasoned in the areas of gratitude and generosity."
I always want to be developing in that direction. Always.


I just thought that was a good quote. It definitely stopped me in my tracks.

And I will be thinking about it for awhile.

Baby Shower Fun

Every once in a while we have a baby shower at work.

This year, there are TWO pregnant ladies in our group. And the first one due up is Ash!

I like Ash. But she use to check our paperwork. And when I would see her coming my way, I would automatically think... "Oh no, here comes Ash. I'm in trouble. She's gonna make me do everything over."

That was never the case. I'm just nervous like that.

And I wondered why she had on pink... She's having a boy.

I didn't bother her about it. She's a lady, and she can wear pink if she wants to!

Anyway, we had a baby shower for Ash!

And there was a fine spread of food.

Fresh fruit and veggies... I was eyeing that real hard.

We had plenty of snacky-snacks: pretzels, chips and dips, nachos and salsa.

And you can't have a party without fried chicken wings.

Those were some good wings. And they got those done that morning at the local grocery store before a brown-out downtown, so the grease fryers didn't work. (The construction workers are highly annoyed that there was no chicken available. Thank goodness they didn't see our tray of chicken).

We had some sliced sirloin steak and sliced chicken.

(Someone bought that at Sam's warehouse. I have to remember that for the next time we have a party, because it was good!)

Potato salad!

You can't have a summertime party without potato salad. Nope!

Cheese!

And we had some sherbet punch.

Now that was good. I watched it being made. They mixed together a bag of frozen mixed berries, a carton of frozen concentrated fruit juice, some rainbow sherbet, and a couple of liters of ginger ale.

 I had 2 or 3 cups of it.  That was some good stuff!

Check out the cake...

The cake was beautiful, and oh so good.

We played games. And there were some professional baby shower game players there, so, uh... let's just say I didn't win anything. Sigh.  But it was fun.  We were competing like we were trying to win the Olympics or something. Hilarious!

And Ash had gifts...

And of course, I made a baby blanket. When she said she was pregnant, I began the questionings.

"What are you having? A boy or a girl?"

I wanted to ask "What are you having, a boy or a girl? I need to know because I need to make a run to the Southside suburbs for some yarn and I kinda wanna get that done as soon as possible."

Couldn't say that, though. And she was taking too long. So I went with my trusty variegated yarn that could go for any sex.

And she liked it! 



So glad she did!

And here's the group gift...

Not sure what that is... It's very nice, though. Baby toys have come a long long way.

It was a fine time!  We need to do that once a week. 

(Oh no. That would mean a LOT of pregnant folk, tho... Yikes).

But it's always fun to get together and celebrate a new life entering the world.

Best of luck to Ash! And congrats on the upcoming birth of your new bundle or joy!