Something New...

So here's my new piece of lawn equipment.

It is a trimmer.

A rather large and heavy trimmer.

A gas powered trimmer.

My last one was a battery powered one. It worked well with a rechargeable battery, but when I needed a new battery... uh, I couldn't find one.

And I liked that trimmer. It was so easy to use.

But this gas powered one... ugh. It is a bit intimidating.

Cowgirl Cre hyped me up, and told me how simple gas powered lawn gear is to use, and how to mix the gas and oil fuel. I found out I could buy it premixed, so that solves some problems.

It is big, some 6 feet long. So before the end of the month, I want to have figured it out. That is the goal. I am doing a little something in the yard every other day since my lawn dude is on "vacation", i.e., somewhere locked up in jail for who knows what. One of the other locals would tell me what happened eventually).

Right now it's so hot outside and it seems to rain spontaneously. I do not understand this. I may need to get out there at the crack of dawn. That will piss my neighbors off, making all that noise cutting grass and such at 6:30 in the morning. LOL. 

I have much to practice on. Look at the fence line:

Yes. That's gonna look right once I attack it with the new trimmer. If I can get that all lined up nice, I am a superstar!

Yep!!

How exciting!

(Not...)

LOL

Monday Night Musings

Monday!

And this has been a pretty decent Monday.

And I remember waking up this morning eager to get to work because I had some data to pull. I pulled it, but I need to re-crunch it tomorrow. And that is okay. I just like being busy and gainfully employed.

My weekend was slow enough. I bought a piece of lawn equipment that I have been meaning to buy. A nice home depot employee saw me staring at the equipment (as I have in the past), and he helped me pick out what I needed. I need to get out and try and cut my grass because I haven't seen my usually punctual lawn man. He is probably on vacation (which means he is locked up right now. Sigh).

I even bought gas for the lawnmower. My lawn man uses my lawn mower sometimes to cut my grass. He has to to "find" the gas, as I ain't supplying it! 

I will take a picture of it when I use this special piece of equipment. Cowgirl Cre and I have talked about it, and my reservations concerning it, but she hyped me up! (As only a hypeman can properly do! LOL)

Now if it would just stop raining on a haphazard basis. LAWD. 

Book of the Week.  Anyway, the highlight of my past week and a half has been listening to my first audiobook. I have never really seen a reason for audiobooks, especially for myself, but I love streaming stuff, so I decided to give it a try. So I'd been dabbling around with wanting to order Hunger by Roxane Gay.

I had a sample of it in my kindle and I remember thinking after reading that sample, "Wow, this is powerful." And my twitter sister Jixxa was all flustered because she wanted to go see Roxane Gay speak but she'd purchased the book already after listening to a podcast. She gave me the name of the podcast ("Tell Me I'm Fat", episode 589, on This American Life Podcast), and after listening to it, I ordered  the book on audible. I am so glad I did. The audio is about 8 hours long when read aloud, so I'd taken to listening to it when I was settling down for bed. And this weekend I had lots of chores to do around the house, and I finished it....

And I went back and listened to parts that made me all weepy.

It was such a powerful story. I think it meant so much to me because I am a big girl and it helped me understand my feelings toward my own body, much as she expressed there. She is such a powerful storyteller, and she tells her own story so well. So that was a powerful listen, very vunerable, and I could go back and listen to chapters over again if I wanted to. And I understand myself so much better, just from listening to her story.

I bought her short story collection. I love short stories. (Shameless plug: order Atlanta Noir for my first EVER published story.  Yes, this is a shameless plug).

Ya'll better get out and get THAT!! Good stuff.  There are some great authors in there, 3 of which are my all time favorites, and then there's ME!! You better do that!

It's been so much fun getting feedback and signing my story in the book. I will ALWAYS remember this. Always!!!

This feels better than getting my PhD in Chemistry. Or maybe since that happened 19 years ago, this feels much fresher. It is a life milestone, I tell you THAT much.

But I digress. 

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled program.


Go Roxane! I will be reading (or listening to) all of your work for now on!

Glory!!!

Song of the Weekend.  I heard "Whatever it Takes" by Anita Baker  this weekend.



How awesome is that song??  That is such a GREAT song. Why don't we have more great songs like that? Such despair and love and a hint of desperation. (Every woman has been desperate, whether outright or quietly, in her life over some guy at one time or another, even though we don't care to admit it)..

Even the instrumental is nice. That song is over 20 years old. And it is timeless.

And aren't you glad  I don't have a completely RATCHET song of the week!?

Of course you are!

LOL!!

This week will be plagued with making work travel plans. I don't really want to go anywhere, but I need it to boost my work review (I never have had to worry about this, and I get great reviews  and bonuses, but some extra padding does not hurt, man. Never.). And plus it is a chance to get away from the workplace.  I don't particularly like the scientists of this conference as it is incredibly cliquish, which means I will be wandering off somewhere by myself. And I can't really blend in, as you can count the scientists of color on one hand (and have fingers left over). To sneak off and explore the city would be great, but there is a possible snitch going, and I would hate to have to pull out my book of Cuss on a coworker for snitching. Humph.

But the scientific talks are phenomenal. Plenty to be learned.

And that's a GOOD thing.

My goal is to find and love the "good" of an experience. It is always there, and it must be given the strength and attention it deserves.

(Was that a bootleg Food-for-Thought of the week? Did I just do that?)

Have a great week!

On purpose!!

Freestyles on a Friday

Yes yes, ya'll....

And you don't stop.

Because it is FRIDAY!!

But it is not payday... and that is okay. That will be next Friday.

This has been a slow week.  I'd gotten so use to getting up in the mornings and going to the hospital to be with my sister, so much so, I am in the lane heading there instead of merging into the lane that takes me to work. (My workplace was 1 mile from the workplace).

Alas she is at home and she is well. So back to my normal daily routine, which seems a bit odd.

Oh well.

I went out to lunch today to a new spot near the job called Pho King.

And it was so "phoking" good! (That's the inside joke around here, lol).

I went to lunch with my favorite Panamanian coworker. I like her. My IQ always go up a couple of points when I hang with her. And that's a good thing!

I had the egg rolls...

 And  the chicken vermecelli. There's a real vietnamese name for it. Bunt Kei something. Who knows. I speak english.

 She had the pork and shrimp version. 

And I had  a strawberry milk tea.

Tasty! Not as great as my spot, Pho Dai Lai out in Forest Park. But a great place closeby when I want some good pho or vermecelli!

That's the highlight of me week.

Oh, and signing books all week!

Yes! The paperback edition of Atlanta Noir are available two weeks early!

 I'm not sure what's up with that, but I'm not mad about it. No I am not.

My breath catches in my throat whenever I pull up Facebook or open my text messages and people have pictures of their books! WOW.

And I get to sign them. And people read my story and give me feedback on my story. How awesome is that? I LOVED-ED IT!

Get yours now!  And you know I'm going to have some giveaways. Of course! That will be soon.

Song of the Week.  I need a happy song of the week. How about that.

Joey Bada$$'s Devastated. 



I love that! That's how I feel about my first official published story! Yay!!!

Oh but wait...

Wait, wait, wait.  

I have another story coming out soon. 

We'll discuss that next week!

Ha Ha!!!

Ya'll have a good weekend!

On purpose!!

When Concerns Bring Changes... Hmm

Folks in my county have been in an utter uproar over the extreme hikes in our property taxes.

I have to admit the hike was out of the blue. Property taxes went up by some 50% for some folks.

My taxes increased by 800%.

Mind you, my taxes were artificially low. I went to the property tax office a few years ago to talk to the peoples about it. They assured me the taxes were correct.

This made sense, since the market was low and I lived next door to a foreclosure. Oh yeah, there was a foreclosure across the street too. And several around the neighborhood.

And that was fine, as long as they didn't circle back trying to jack me for tax money. Fine.

But enter

GENTRIFICATION.

When I saw white folks jogging, walking their dogs, and pushing baby strollers, I thought... uh... here WE go.

I knew a hike was coming. Especially when they built that state-of-the-art park a couple of blocks from the house. And when they started pulling up asphalt and laying down beautiful bricks, bricks that you could drive over...

GENTRIFICATION.

I didn't worry much about this hike in taxes. First of all, mine are around 20% below the expected tax value. And I can always write it off on taxes.

But I was watching the news, and people's property taxes were going from $15,000 to $30,000. That is some craziness indeed.

I spoke with one of my beloved white friends about this. "If ya'll got $15,000, ya'll can come up with the rest. Ya'll got money like that."

She set me straight on that. As always. I have my misconceptions about white folk. You know how it's shoved down our throats about how perfect their lives are. She tends to yank me back into reality.

"These white folks gonna raise hell, though," I said. "You watch. They're not going for that."

"You gonna appeal?" she asked.

"Nope. I'm gonna depend on these white folks to go crazy."

So I waited.

And then I got this in the mailbox the other day:

Look how they have "Due to concerns raised by residents..." in bold print.

You know what it is.

I know what it is.

Even that fat cat Mitch know what it is:

Look at the look on his face. He know what's up.

This is what it should've said.

I spoke on the phone with my beloved white friend. She said, "You know, I saw that on the news and thought 'LadyLee was right. They are not going for it'."

"I told you," I said. "No way."

I expect my tax notice to stay the same. But if they want to return it to last years tax, have at it. That is fine by me.

They best not upset the pioneers, these Christopher Columbus types, who have "discovered" inner city living ever again.

Believe that!

I don't have a problem with gentrification. People in general get tired of living in the suburbs. I lived in my neighborhood some 20 years ago when I was in grad school and I LOVED it. If I ever caught a house down there, I was snatching it up. I did that when prices were sky high. But at the same time, people will be priced out. I should be fine. I thought about all of this some 10  years ago when I bought my house. I am STILL mad about having to spend $2000 on a lawyer over 2 feet of fence in my backyard. But it is what it is. 

I wish a good 100 of us could get together and buy up and fix up houses in our hood.  Then this wouldn't be an issue, wouldn't it.

But here's a piece of food for thought...

Whenever I have to research a city that I am using in a story...

I notice whenever the blacks in the community try to have a nice neighborhood and businesses and schools and such, there's a bit of fire bombing, lynching, and highway building, etc...

You would be absolutely SHOCKED  at the history of some of the neighborhoods within a 5 mile radius of my house. SHOCKED.  

I'm just saying...

Selah.

The Burn

Something I love to dabble in from time to time is loose teas.

I find some good ones in bulk here and there, and that's always a fun thing.

I've found one that is especially complex at my local Whole Foods, and I just can't get enough of it.

Cinnamon cardamon tea.

There's a lot going on there. And it looks like there's more than cinnamon and cardamon there.



It's $30 a pound, but I imagine a pound is a lot. It's lightweight, and the amount in the jar comes up to about 8$. (Yes, I went back and bought it ALL after sampling a couple of teaspoons of it my first time buying it).

I like to steep 3 teaspoons at a time.

And I don't steep for the recommended typical 5 minutes for most teas. I steep for 30 minutes.

Because I'm hardcore like that.

And then I pour it over ice. (Because you know I'm not drinking it straight).

Oh...

The burn.

I can feel it burning in my chest. It's like I boiled some of the red hot candies for a LONG time.

The BURN.

Amazing.

It's akin to drinking some straight liquor.

LOL

And what's more amazing is that the two main components of this tea have some great anti-inflammatory and circulatory properties, and I can feel it.

How great is that.

But I can't get past the burn.

And you know what? I hate red hot candies...

...But this here will do just fine.

Monday Evening Blues

I am not sure why I titled the post that.

I am not blue.

It's a bit dreary here in my beloved ATL, but it's no reason to be blue. Sure it's all hot and sticky outside, and it will probably rain at any moment... yet, it's no reason to be blue.

Title just sounds good. And I am listening to a piece of garage rock/blues music, which I will post as the Song of the Week later.

So... last week was a LONG week. My sister was in the hospital and I am happy to report that she was released yesterday. GLORY!  When they said she could go home, we packed that room up SUPER fast, in 5 minutes flat.

I have been in the hospital myself for a week in the past. I can STILL remember being wheeled out the hospital in that wheelchair. I can still feel the warmth of the sun on my face. And I never knew the sun could be THAT bright.  I don't ever want to be closed up and shut in a room for that long ever again. Ever. So I could understand the glee on her face when they said she could go home. We are praying all is good now.

So I am looking forward to a normal week of going back and forth to work and meandering around the house doing chores and writing, etc. Can't wait to get back to that.

Song of the Week. So, I must say I have heard what I think is like, the best song I've heard this year.  If I don't hear another song this great this year, then I am good. I'll take this one.

Jay-Z used it as a sample on the title track of his new CD 4:44.

Well, the music of the CD is much like the cover of the CD... not much too it. Yet it had a lot going on.

You know how you wish rappers and singers would get to the point where they could make whatever the heck kind of music they want? Trendiness be damned and all of that? Well that's what Jay-Z did. He made this CD for himself. It was him looking into the mirror rapping to himself concerning all his mess in the past. And he gave good sound financial advice. I think Jay-Z and I are the same age (mid- to late 40s), and it is what I expect from someone that age. He would sound a straight up fool trying to do all this mumble rapping. Stop it, I say. He did exactly what he should have done. Alas, that is not going to excite much interest from the masses, many of us who are realizing that jibberish and nonsensical rap is the norm.  Sigh.

And for that reason alone, it is definitely worth a listen. 

The producer is a legendary one name No. ID.  I was more interested in what he was going to do with this CD. I can appreciate that it's not a commercial venture.  And I love the sample that he used for the title cut.  I thought it was an old 70s song by some soul sista, but it's not. It came out last year, and it's by a white chick from the UK.

Hannah Williams and the Affiimations - "Late Nights and Heartbreaks"



Man oh man... how GREAT is that song? I think I'm more caught up in the whole unique story line of the song. I love any singer who can tell a story in a song, and it makes me wish we had more music with some substance like that. HUMPH.

A good find. I definitely threw that on my playlist.

And if you haven't seen the video for the 4:44 JayZ song, here it is. It might disappear, so here's the youtube link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOcdhQ9KfJA



That video was TOO much for me. Someone needs to explain that to me. What the world was up with the contemporary dancers in the video?  Wow. I have watched it a good 10 times, and to me it represents black joy and black oppression and black pain. And we have essentially become snuff film subject matter. Sigh.

Most powerful line that has stuck with me and is this week's Quote of the Week. 

"Hey, I'm an innocent bystander. They sayin' I drove a getaway car, but I cannot see. I'm legally blind."

There was A LOT going on in that video. I am waiting for a good think piece on it.

And that feels good to say. Not too much music makes me think these days.

That is it for ME.

I hope to post all week. I really do. This month's offerings have been quite paltry! I have to pick it up, pick it UP!

So as always, have a great week.. .On purpose!!

Friday Freestyles

Friday!!

Finally!

Today went by slowly, so slowly that this 3 day workweek felt like a 5 day workweek. I have been clock watching. And if I could find a few toothpicks to hold my eyelids open, I would be good.

I wish I had a good hiding place at work where I could take a nap. But certain folk keep notes on what you're doing, i.e., don't know how to mind they own bizness.

Humph. *foot stomp*

Today is the last day of my supervisory duties. Thank goodness for that. For the most part, people have been gone, but it has thrown me off just a tad when I have to do something administrative. Just a tad.

But today is Friday. My weekend will be my weekend. I need to go to my writing group some 40 miles away, so ALREADY I'm trying to wrap my head around that. This means that I need to have my money together and my gas together TONIGHT. There is nothing worse than thinking "Oh, I'll get up early enough in the morning to stop for gas and to stop at the ATM for money."

Uh no.

Not only that, but I need to lay my clothes out and make sure I know where my keys are.

And make sure I cut up some fruit to eat for breakfast along the way.

Ay-yi-yiiii. *palm to forehead*

And I will get it done.  Despite there still being a boil water advisory in downtown ATL.

I am still all perturbed, with the unblinking stare... with the boil water face. 

Went to sleep perturbed. Woke up perturbed.

And the local news reporting is quite fleeting on the subject. They talk about it for 30 seconds, then on to the next subject. Sigh. 

I saw a coworker in the hallway this morning. She said "LadyLee, that boil water advisory is on until Monday."

Sigh. I shook my head. "I feel like we in the Color Purple!"

We both laughed. But it's not funny. She said that if I didn't lose water pressure and the water looks clear and not turbid (with particles floating in it O_o),  then  I am fine.

None of that is happening, so I guess I am okay. I'm not gonna drink that water, tho. Nope.

Enough  of my complaining. Complaining always leave me jogging in place.

Let me reverse it, as I tend to do. I give myself a moment to whine, but I best end it with the positive. 

I am thankful for bottled water to drink. I caught a sale last night at the local grocery store: 3 cases for $10. I am keeping one case and donating the other two cases to the homeless!

I am thankful for the 40 mile drive to my writing group workshop. That quiet time is some of my best prayer time!

Work was slow, but I am thankful for my good gub'ment job. Yes ma'am. Yes sir. 

Let's move on to better things! 

Quote of the Week.  I saw this quote on a random notepad around the house. I have no idea where I heard this quote, as I probably scribbled it down from something I saw on tv or heard on satellite radio. Must be a good one if I stopped to write it down in bright red ink.

"Do not surround yourself with people who feed your dysfunction." 

 That is a lofty statement. And it only makes sense if we pause to take time to understand what our personal dysfunctions are... And who takes time to do that?

Song of the Week. So SZA has a new album out. She is part of the Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE)  camp, and since that is my favorite camp/team, I make sure to listen to whatever their artists put out. SZA is their only female artist. She has put out a couple of EPs/mixtapes, but I can't too much fool with those. She is much to cerebral, and I'm not smart enough to figure out what the heck she is talking about.

But, her debut album is out, and while it is just slightly over my head (I think I need to be a woke, 20-something, feminist black college chick), there are a couple of songs I really like: "Weekend" and  "Pretty Little Birds"






I like both of those because they are well written songs. The first one is the ultimate side-chick song. She don't like being the side chick, but she is giving in to the role. Interesting, as I haven't heard that point of view in awhile. (And it's jacked up, but she sanging good, lol). The second song has good use of metaphors. How common is that these days? And I don't  even listen to current R&B. Good to find some that I can actually tolerate.

*lee turning back to ol' school, tho*

LOL. That is it for me. I am ready for the weekend like some big things are going down!!

I hope you're ready for the weekend like you have some big things going down too!

Ten (Plus) Thursday Thoughts

This week has flown by fast. I THINK it is Thursday. So I need to post.

I think.

So here are my immediate thoughts... On a Thursday.

1. I am not sure why I haven't blogged all week.

2. I think it is because we had that long holiday weekend.

3. I STILL don't know what day it is. But maybe I will get back on track.

4. I have been straight lazy all week. Not a good way to start the second half of the year.

5. I was SHOOK this morning when my phone rang at 6:34 am. Mind you, this was the HOME phone, which never rings.

6. So I amused myself and answered it. I was READY to go off on a telemarketer. READY.

7. Turns out there is a "boil water advisory" today, and my 'hood was a part of it.

8. Wow. So let's just say, it was some craziness getting ready for work this morning. And preparing my food.

9. It all had me in my feelings, looking and feeling like this:

Lips pursed. Hard stare. All of that. 


10. Occurrences like this make me think, though. What on earth would we do if our water systems were maliciously attacked? I hate to even think about it.

11. I only have 4 gallons of clean water at the house. One of those gallons was useful this a.m. But it makes  me believe that I need more.

12. I haven't even drank any water from the water fountain at work today, and I am out of my usual stash of bottled water at work. I am feeling a tad bit dehydrated, to say the least.

13. It makes me think that I need to bust out and buy some 5 gallon jars of water for the garage. Sigh.

That's it for my Ten Plus Thursday thoughts!!