An OG's first Bloggaversary

You know the Oldgirl is all giddy, yo?

It is my one year anniversary, babes!!

I started this blog a year ago... Now it's a year later, 125 posts later, and um... it's a whole lot to take in.

Now, over a year ago, I didn't even know what a blog was. I just happen to come across my favorite author Tayari Jones blog, and left a comment (very hesitantly, because I really didn't know if I was allowed to do that) And you know what? She sent me an email... I was like...

GLORY!!

Somehow, I ended up getting my own...

I look back at my posts, and I have noticed how my styles have changed. Now in the beginning, much of the 'Trina stuff was going on, so I blogged about that. I was also more political. Then I started getting some readership showing up after awhile... I think I was pretty much blogging about whatever was on my mind, you know, without ramification. Much of that stopped because I can't STAND debating and arguing with folks. Looking back, less than 5% of my posts are serious in nature...Let's just say that I don't get all that serious here. Ladylee is the fun side of me (and a few of you know that other "sweet" side of the oldgirl).

Then I discovered that I can take my behind over to other blogs, with more serious topics, and just straight up blog in their comment sections. (For those of you who I harass in this way- Chele, Sharon, DJ Diva, Serenity, Chosen, ATLien Nikki, Tayari- Thanks for putting up with me!!)

But like I said, LadyLee is the funny side of the Oldgirl... Can I take some funny ish that has happened to me, and turn it into a story? This is a continuous struggle for me, but I am getting better...

A couple of nice things have happened because of my blog...

My Auntie J reads my blog, and if I do blog about something serious, or especially family related, she will call me up, and we will have a heart-to-heart convo about it. I am a TERRIBLE communicator, and I keep my cards close to my chest, so through all this, I have found that I can count on her to be honest with me and break things down all propa like. (Thanks Auntie!)

One thing I didn't realize is that Iwould come across some AMAZING folks in blogland...

A couple of bloggers- Chele (Ms. Full House) and Sharon (The Microphone Queen) out there have had a PROFOUND impact on me... an impact so strong that I issued them their Platinum Plus Original Oldgirl Cards... and they gladly accepted (LOL). They even have their own section on my blog roll. You Oldgirls, I swear, man, you will never know how much your words impact me... I really look up to ya'll. Now I have met Sharon, and talk to her on the phone (and I continuously bow at her feet!), but I've never met Chele... If I ever did, the scenario would go something like this:

Hi LadyLee, I'm Chele! How are you??

*LadyLee is completely shocked and can't speak. Ladylee tries to speak, but passes out instead, falling down on the HARD concrete*

Somebody hurry up and get a stretcher!! Call 911!! LOL!!!

Just know that you two Oldgirls inspire this Oldgirl... You both make me want to be a better person. I've learned from ya'll that I don't have to apologize to ANYONE for who I am... I'm growing, but I'm alright as I am, idiosyncracies and all.. I am alright.

Really though.

Now, I have been christened as a member of the triple threat crew by Sharon, the Microphone Queen. The triple threat crew consists of Serenity23, The DJ DIVA, and yours truly... Now I talk to these females everyday via email (sometimes upwards of 300 emails a day, and all the love and arguments over our personal ish can get REALLY intense), and they KNOW me and all my idiosyncracies, and don't hesitate to put a foot up my ass about things. I'm suprised they still fool with my trifling ass, LOL! (I appreciate that, because you know I NEEDS that, you bustas!!).

(Sidenote: And Serenity, stop calling me a chickenhead on IM, text messages, and in email... someone yelled "Chickenhead" in the drugstore the other day and I turned around... So now I don't even know my name anymore Cut that ish out, you heard me, you chicken!?).

I want to shout out to Ladybug, a former blogger, who is riding shotgun HARD on that same, intense email thread ER'day! Love you, Mayne!!

Serenity is an "Oldgirl-in-training" and is begging HARD for a card. So Serenity, I told your butt that you was too doggone young, and I need you to at least hit the age of 30, but if them other OG's approve and you take off those damn clear heels, then I will hook you up, little girl!

Other interesting things that have happened during my blog year, i.e., my ten favorite posts, some of which are serious posts (imagine THAT)

I purchased my first home!
My oldest cat, Jeremy Girard, died back in November at the age of 9.
My top five memories in my 25 year friendship with my best friend LadyTee
I lamented over my baby bro going into the military during a time of war.
I blogged about my divorce.
My manuscript critiquers pissed me off when they tried to perpertrate! (You bougie, bougie broads!)
My 100th post (Top 100 things about the Oldgirl).
I gained an understanding of crackhead and hood politics.
Hurricaine 'Trina and it's relation to Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower
I even got a little spiritual on ya!

I could go on and on... but I won't.

Do I plan to change anything? Not really. I am not computer savvy, so I will keep my format the same... I added background music a couple of months ago, and that is about as technical as I can get... I don't post as much because I like a lot of pics, and blogger won't let this Oldgirl upload like I like. (I am like, 10 posts behind right now.) I will work on becoming less LOOOONGwinded, so I can post more. I don't read and support blogs as much as I should because I have the attention span of a flea with attention deficient disorder(LOL). In my effort to not turn into a dreaded lurker, I will attempt to improve in this area.

I don't get too personal over here, and don't really plan to start now (Negroes on the job and shady management read this ish). You never know though, I may suprise ya'll:)

What do I plan to do on my bloggaversary?

No, I don't plan to ball out of control... I'll go to church today, go do a little grocery shopping, do some reading, clean the house, work on a post, work on my manuscript, catch up on my bible reading, cook for the week, and yack on the phone, then take my behind to bed.

But most of all, on this bloggaversary, I want to be sure to thank you all for reading me, supporting me, and blessing me with your comments:)

Please, hurry up this way again!!

~Ladylee:)

A Visit from an Old Friend... An Old Influence

Beware, this is a um... dark post, not my usual funny, funny... Tread carefully...

I am a strange Oldgirl...

I, like most, have idiosyncracies...and I don't apologize for that. I'm only human.

I detest running with the crowd, or even getting hype about whatever is the the trend of the moment... It all makes me want to gag. I get in A LOT of trouble for not having the knack of saying all the right things, or being a people pleaser.

It wouldn't bother me one bit to work all day in a small cubicle up on the roof of my workplace all alone, with no contact whatsoever with people.

Ain't nothing but peace to me. And I'd probably get 10 times as much work done, you know.

If you're not speaking good words to me, words to uplift me, words to get me going in the right direction, words to soothe my soul, words of correction and chastisement from the heart... just not having a positive influence on me at all... then I ain't trying to deal with you...

And I boldly say, if I'm not doing the same for you, then you don't need to be dealing with me...

Keep It Movin'...

Our lives are too damn important to be around folks that are keeping us in some form of bondage. I will go on to say, most issues we have are intricately connected to some bad or strange relations and/or interactions with someone in our lives in the past...

I don't really know why, but that's just me, and how I feel. I'm 36 now, and all I know, once I turned 30, my tolerance for people's B.S. went waaaaay down... Let's just say my patience is as thin as a peice of paper...

Meaning, I can't deal with you if you are a messy person, a dramatic person, a person of low self-esteem (i.e., one who needs their ego CONSTANTLY stroked and/or validated), people who only talk to me when they want something, or one who is exceedingly negative...

Sorry, but you need to keep it moving... we ain't in high school, we ain't in college, and this ain't a popularity contest... We is GROWN, so act grown...

No, I'm not the most positive person on the planet, but it don't help me to hang with a bunch of negative peeps...

Ooooh, Ladylee is not so funny today is she? Nope. This is just me, what's been at the forefront of my mind for a minute. I get a lot of criticism for being a bit too flowery and funny on this blog, not showing enough of the real me... but hey, this is one of them posts where you see a bit of my serious side... so catch it while you can (LOL!)

Anyway, I am very careful about who I deal with. Man, I got folks that have a stank attitude towards me right now, because I am not skilled in saying ALL the right things, doing ALL of what they think I should do for them, or even if I have a bad day, etc... I can't figure out what I did to them, and frankly, since I don't go out of my way to purposefully hurt people, I really don't care.

Oh well, that's cool... keeps them out of my way. LOL!

Now one thing I detest is lazy people, people whose laziness make it hard for everyonoe else. We have this problem on my job. And what's so terribly twisted about it, such behaviour seems to be rewarded...

While a foot is put up the ass of the diligent.

So twisted... so it seems that it's just best to be lazy... hmmm...

*Lee reluctantly getting off of the soapbox and kicking it off in the bushes*

Anyway, a bit of bright sunshine shined in my life last week.

Cowgirl Cre and I were sitting in the large, two person cubicle that we share one day last week, quietly eating our lunch. I was reading a book, and she was reading also.

All was quiet.

Someone walked up behind us, and softly said in a thick hispanic accent...

"Do you all still work here? Do you do work?"

I didn't even turn around to see who it was...

I was too busy looking for my shovel, so I could run out back and dig up my Book of Cuss!

I looked over at Cowgirl Cre, and apparently, she too was looking for that same shovel.

(Let's just say I stay clear of a couple of people out of the Hispanic sector at work since they like to grab me and throw me under the bus from time to time.)

I eventually turned around, to see a coworker who'd transferred to a new location within our organization a few years ago...

My ex-coworker Havi...



Now Havi was a special type of person. One who didn't backbite or backstab. One who didn't need his ego stroked. One who wasn't dramatic, i.e., didn't keep a bunch of mess going. The type of person that you don't have to watch. Just a great all around guy. He was a very honest and hard worker... extremely diligent. And if there is one thing I like, I like a hard, honest worker.

We had a long conversation one day a few years ago, you know, one of those unforgetable convos where you come to a very clear understanding with a person, and see eye-to-eye on some things. He wanted to learn some of the equipment that I was very knowledgable of, but I could tell he had heard a lot of crazy stuff about me, and was hesitant to approach me about it. (I, Ladylee, am not the most political or congenial individual, i.e., I'm not an ass-kisser, so on the job, that makes me... incredibly and automatically EVIL, LOL!). But I told him, give me 10 minutes a day of your time, just when you finish your own work, just 10 minutes a day, and I will teach you all I know. You can either believe what the haters say about me, or make up your own mind, but I will teach you all that I can, if you want. Just because I hold a Ph.D. does not mean I walk around with my nose in the air. I don't have ego issues! if you want to learn, I will fervently teach you! Heck, you may figure out something I can't figure out, or even teach me something new. And I am down for that!

Well, he decided to roll with me, and was diligent about giving me his 10 minutes a day. He soaked up everything I taught him, and was able to eventually take on some of the more tedious and difficult projects of our group. I remember when he use to walk up on me with a worried look, asking my advice on how to do a particular analysis, wanting to try a different approach, just kicking ideas past me, to see what I think. I would just let him talk and talk, let him hear himself talk the problem out and figure it out for himself.

I would always just nod and say.... "Do your thang, man... try it and see what happens, I trust your judgement."

Damn, why can't it be that way with everybody?

It's sad to say that I can't say that to many people... "I trust your judgement". Sad, sad, sad.

Anyway, Havi was able to transfer out of our group and back to a branch in his hometown of Puerto Rico, and is working with some of the same equipment that I had the opportunity to show and teach him how to use...

So when I turned around that day last week and saw him standing there, smiling like the cheshire cat... I did all I could not to shed a tear or two...

I just jumped up and tackled and hugged him (LOL)!!

I miss him so much...

See, I can't stand lazy people, because laziness is something that I myself struggle with. And it's not that outright laziness, where I am just sorry as hell (you know, we all know people like that). But for me, it's that laziness where I have a slow day, where I only get half as much done as I should have gotten done, and it's all my fault because I am slacking and unmotivated, or just not feeling well that day... THAT brand of laziness.

So I run from those who have a rep of being lazy or trifling... because, it is my belief that whoever you hang around too much with, well, you start to pick up some of their characteristics...

And that scares me.

One of the biggest things on my prayer list is a prayer to become a diligent person, and it is an honor and a great influence when I cross paths with very diligent people. Because meeting such persons is a rarity in my life. I find that I always pick up some of their characteristics, some of the missing points that I need to make me a better worker... a better person.

I miss Havi because he was kind, good-hearted, an honest hard worker...and very diligent. When we worked together, I worked harder, worked so much smarter. Heck, I didn't even mind coming to work some days, because I knew that he and I were going to get a lot done.

So Havi, I miss you man! I miss the influence you had on me...

Lord knows I need your diligent behind back here in the ATL...

But hey man, I know you wanted to go back home to that beautiful island, and you got there...

Thanks for stopping by and visiting, and making us laugh... You almost got read a few verses from my Book of Cuss!!

You be sure to come back again soon...

Green Thumb growing...

Hey ya'll...

NOTE: For those of you who read Sharon, i.e., Ms. Just Write Now!, you will all know that she was going to donate a kidney to her brother Dee on July 17th. Well, I got a call from her, and all went well with the operation. In her words "Dee is kicking high, and I am kicking low..." I am not sure what that means... I think she is having one of her microphone moments. But she says to let you all know that she is doing fine... and that she she's up in Saint Louis, where the power has been out all week due to storms, so she is unable to blog...

But she is doing well, and recovering well, and will be back to blogging real soon :)

Now on to today's post...

A couple of weeks ago, I planted some flowers in the front yard. I was a bit antsy because my flowers looked like they had been on crack, and needed some help, some resuscitation... something...

But two weeks later, with a little of this Oldgirl's love and tender care... Voila...



Before...



After...



And a picture from a view that the neighborhood prostitutes and crackheads get, from the retainer wall in front of my house...




And here's a picture of two basil plants that I bought at the same time that I bought the flowers for the yard. They were half this size when I bought them! Oh how they have grown!!



I had them on the porch, but I brought them in the house... I learned at the last street association meeting that some of the crackheads are stealing plants off the front porches... Interesting (as always).

So needless to say...

I am getting there...

The green thumb is growing... slowly but surely.

Book Review - The Other Brother by Brandon Massey.

I love Brandon Massey...

Hold up. Pump the brakes and back it up. Let me clarify that.

I LOVE Brandon Massey's writing...

Okay there we go. That's better.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I love to read. But you may catch a foot in your throat if you try to run up on me and suggest I read some of the badly written, crackhead-edited urban fiction(?) that seems to be all the rage amongst my people these days... And erotica does not impress me... Come on, we all have twerked it out in every whicha way before...

Whatever.

No, I like to read strange stuff: Black Sci-fi, Black Horror, Black speculative fiction. The stranger the better. Come on black authors, impress me, use your imagination, doggonit.

Now, you know my favorite female authour is Tayari Jones, a fellow ATLien. I posted about her back in February.

But my favorite male author is another ATLien, Brandon Massey. He writes some strange stuff. He bounces to the beat of a different drummer. I am not sure how he classifies himself, but I classify him as a horror writer.

Black folks writing horror? Who would have thought.

Well Brandon does and he does it well. I tell you, it ain't NOTHING in the world like seeing Ray-Ray, Quita, and Pookie them going through some ish with with vampires, witches and the like.

But I digress... Brandon has written four novels, a short story collection (which I will review later, and two anthologies of horror short stories written by black folks.

But I could go on and on (and you know how long winded I am).

The Other Brother, Brandon Massey's fourth novel, was released last week. For some reason, I thought it would be out later this month, but when I found out it was already out, I immediately went out and picked up a copy.

Now the Other Brother, like many of Brandon's stories, is set in Atlanta (always a plus!). It is the story of the Reid family: T.L. Reid, founder CEO and founder of the well to do Reid Construction Company; Gabriel Reid, his son, who is being groomed to become CEO of the company one day; his wife, Margaret, the ever loving family matriarch; daughter, Nicole Reid, who, although not involved with Reid Construction, is a successful corporate lawyer.

...The perfect upper middle class (or high class, really) family...

(In other words, bougi high post black Atlanta negroes... Humph.)

Well, like I said, this is the perfect family...

But you know what's up... Er'body got some skeletons in their closets.

And when them damn skeletons come busting out that tight closet and straight up run all over the place... Oh my!

Now Theo Reid, the family patriarch, has a big skeleton... While on a business trip in Chicago some 30 odd years ago, he had an affair with a young lady...

Well, he got her pregnant, and she had a son... Isaiah Battle. Now imagine this: Theo Reid and his perfect family, all successful and wealthy, living it up in the ATL...

...His illegitimate son, Isaiah, living with his mother in poverty with his mother in some Chicago projects. Isaiah has been following his father's career for years- saving all the stories about him and his company and his family, from Ebony magazine, etc... while living in poverty...

So after 30 years, several run-ins with the law, a stint in prison, Isaiah is pissed, and thinking about getting some get back. He jumps in his tricked out Chevy Chevelle, jumps on I-75 south, and roars into Atlanta...

... with a mission.

Isaiah shows up and Theo has to deal with his son's arrival on the scene and it's affect on the family. This is a story about how the family deals with Isaiah's arrival on the scene.

Simple story... but in the hands of Brandon Massey, it becomes delightfully complex.

And to add to all the drama, Brandon weaves in an INTERESTING supernatural twist... I can't talk about it here. You'll have to read the book to, uhhh, catch what was up with that. Some of that sort of reminded me of Octavia Butler's writings (and you know how off the chain she could get with that stuff!)

And that is what I like about his writing... he's a master weaver. I mean you can tell he REALLY thought about this story. He does one heck of a job layering plots and weaving lots of stories into one overall story. For instance, there was some relationship drama in this book. There was a love story, and the struggles of that love, layered in there also. Then there was the whole suspense thing. Throw that all together, and mix it up with the supernatural twists and you've got one heck of a page turner.

... Had me saying aloud... "Dang Man! Dang, man! What's gonna happen? How are they going to get through this? What's gonna happen!?"

Now, this book, which was a supernatural suspense thriller, didn't freak me out as bad as his last book, Within the Shadows, which was sort of like a black Fatal Attraction with a supernatural and horror twist, (I haven't been in the Cascade Road Starbucks since I read that book, and I don't even really care to drive on Cascade road no more). But The Other Brother was an excellent book, with a lot going on... A WHOLE lot. I may have to read it again just to appreciate the depth of it.

This book was quite realistic: I know if I saw my Daddy and his smiling family off in the pages of Ebony, and every other black magazine, and he wasn't acknowledging or helping me and my mama, and we'd been struggling down for a thirty years, living in poverty... Man, I believe I'd be ready to get a little revenge on somebody... Really though. The characters were very well developed. Brandon took me inside their hearts and minds. I felt like I knew them.

So if you are looking for an interesting read... highly dramatic, extremely emotional, with characters that you will come to care about and think about long after you put the book down... if you are like me, and like a good supernatural twist, i.e., something off the beaten trail and highly creative... check out The Other Brother.

Support this ATLien. Support very GOOD fiction.

You know this Oldgirl would never steer you wrong...

The Botanical Novice

You may have asketh...

Hark...

What has the Original Oldgirl been up to?

I've been doing a lot of reading... a little writing...

and planting flowers...

Last weekend, I planted some flowers...

Na'll let me stop lying...

It was more like coming home from Church, waking up my brother, "Milk and Cookies", and watching him sweat profusely while he shoveled red Georgia clay and concrete (thanks to my builders... those bustas!), from around the walkway leading to my brick steps...

I did hand him the flowers from the flower pots, and I did hold the bags while he shoveled dirt and sod into them. And I did drive out to Peachtree City, 30 miles south of downtown ATL, and bought the darn flowers (You gotta go knee deep into the white neighborhood sometimes to find what you need, you know)...

So technically, I planted flowers last weekend.

Don't they look lovely??



Let's back up a little so you can see all of MY hard work... Lovely, hunh?



Before you say, "Gee Ladylee, those are quite nice", have a look at my neighbor's flowers...



Humph...

I can hear my lil' sista super shoe queen blogger Serenity 23 laughing and stomping so hard that she breaks one of her clear heels... Calm down gal... I know you gonna dog me, so go ahead on and dog me, Shorty...

I have to come home and look at their yard and see something out of the freakin pages of Home and Garden...



And look at the small tropical jungle on the side of their porch...



Now take a look at my flowers again...



Shut up, now... I ain't no hater. It's just that when I see my neighbor's Paul and Stan's flowers, I think "these are flowers"...

When I see my flowers, I think "these are flowers on crack!"

Well, while Milk and Cookies and I were out on the walkway slaving away, planting the flowers, Stan walked out on his porch and looked at us like we were crazy or had gone mad...

"What are ya'll doing over there?" he yelled.

Both my brotha and I looked up. "Planting flowers," I yelled back.

"Please don't let him come over here," I murmured to a smiling Milk and Cookies. No sooner than I whispered that hope, Stan was marching across his driveway heading straight for us.

"You know you gotta water those everyday, right. Just a little water, every day, and they will be just fine."

"Um... yeah, Stan... will do."

He went away as quickly as he came over.

Now, I know why he was stressing the "every day" watering. It was because I had planted a peach Snapdragon, the color of my house, in April. The Snapdragon flowers started turning red, and I lost interest... I didn't water that thing, and for a good two months, a collection of dried sticks and stems sat where there was once a beautiful red snapdragon...

And I know that pissed off Paul and Stan, especially when they had to see that monstrosity while cutting my grass! LOL!

So, Stan felt it was his duty to warn me, the Botanical Novice Ladylee, to water the flowers everyday...

I've been heeding his advice, and since we are under a watering restriction, I have even been sneaking out there at night with a couple of gallons of water making sure they are getting watered on my city imposed non-watering days. (Don't trip, word is they arresting people these days, and I ain't trying to be locked down over some doggone flower watering!)

Will my flowers grow? Hmm... I will let you know! Stay tuned for a pic later this month!