Monthly Archives: December 2011
Small victories …
As of late, I’ve decided to celebrate all victories regardless of how small they may seem. As you guys know, I was laid off earlier this year and it left me asking what now? Well, I know what now. What now is reality sets in. What now is a chick has to figure out how to maintain things like her sanity and good health.
Yesterday, I told y’all about the personal struggles I’ve been having with this lay off. Yes, it’s depressing. Yes, I’m broke. But there are a few victories. For example, you guys know I am living with diabetes and it brought along a few friends in the form of hypertension and bad cholesterol. Between my meds for all that and all my vitamin supplements and allergy meds, I swallow a grand total of 12 pills. Daily. I know! But thankfully, I am doing it at minimal cost. Let me explain.
Since I no longer have insurance or the ability to maintain Cobra, I have been getting my meds from a big box retail store that allows me to buy them three months at a time for a low price. My most expensive medication is the Crestor that I take for my cholesterol and in my check up before my insurance ran out, my doc sampled me three months worth of it. #smallvictorydance
Thanks to a Twitter conversation with The F$%k It List, AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Crestor, sent me a Tweet with information on how I might qualify to receive my meds at little to no cost. I am enthralled in the application process but with virtually NO income coming in and no insurance, I think it may work out in my favor. Funny thing is I was under the impression that you had to have very specific illnesses like cancers or heart disease to qualify for some of these programs. Boy, was I wrong. As I understand it, these major drug companies have similar programs to help out folks like me who are barely staying afloat. #smallvictorydance
I can’t explain to you the joy that came over me when I found out about these programs. Not only do I have my own meds to be concerned about, my siblings and I also share the cost of paying for meds for a family member. So, when I lost my job my concern wasn’t only about my own meds but hers, too. Now that I know about this, I shall be cross referencing her meds and mine. It doesn’t solve everything but it certainly helps. It ain’t exactly Six Flags but it’s a helluva reason to cut a rug.
Posted in Diabetes, economy, lay-offs, Random, random thoughts
Daddy’s girls unite!!!
My wonderful blog visitors, I have a confession to make. I am a “Daddy’s Girl.” I make no apologies for it. I don’t care who judges me. If anyone tries to come between me and my daddy or cause him harm of any kind, God have mercy on your wretched soul.
Deiondra Sanders
In a world where a lot of families are in their second generation of absentee fathers, my daddy and others like him go unnoticed by the world. That leaves us, their children, with the responsibility of holding them up for the world to see and in some cases defending them. Earlier today, all of Twitter was abuzz with the Tweets from Deiondra Sanders.
As if you couldn’t tell by her name, Deiondra is the eldest daughter of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Sanders is currently involved in divorce proceedings with his estranged wife, Pilar, whom we were introduced to in their reality show “Prime Time Love.” Since the -ish has already hit the fan and sites like TMZ and MediaTakeOut have been dragged into all this, it is sure to get ugly. To make things uglier, Deiondra took to Twitter to air her frustrations about what Pilar is saying via her attorney. Notice my lack of scolding here.
This girl took to Twitter to defend her daddy from the foolishness. While I don’t agree with her methods, I understand her motives. To understand the way a daddy’s girl feels about her daddy is to understand how you feel about your first love. A daddy’s girl’s father IS her first love. He’s the first guy to make her day and usually the first man to let her down. If she is fortunate enough to have a father who has made her day more than he’s disappointed her she will usually fight anyone to the death who tries to bring him harm.
If you look at Deiondra’s page, baby girl went ham. Honey-baked. Picnic. Spiral-sliced. Honey glazed. Just ham. All in an effort to clear her daddy’s name. I don’t claim to know what went on in their family, we may never know the truth. What I do know is how it feels to have some chick make an attempt to bad mouth their father to make herself look good. Since Pilar’s team seems to be taking it to the media, I’m sure Deiondra felt the need to clear it up – in the media.
I just want y’all to cut the girl some slack. One of my followers on Twitter made the comment, “Fathers raise your daughters.” To that I answer, “he did.” He was so good at it in fact, she got pissed and she got it off her chest. This was her way of defending her father. No more, no less. Deiondra may look at her timeline tomorrow and issue an apology. She might not. You can read in her Tweets that she is hurt over the fact this chick came for her daddy. I feel her. How ever this turns out, this episode has not helped anything. Pilar could very well insist that her children not have anything to do with Deiondra. Pilar could use this episode to make her children harbor some kind of animosity toward her. I’ve been in a situation where you have multiple children who don’t share the same two parents. It can be stressful.
So, I ask y’all, please, cut the girl some slack. And daddy’s girls, let’s make a pact to conduct ourselves better. Our daddies are grown men, *sigh* they can fight their own battles.
Like this:
Posted in celebrity foolishness, foolishness, hmmm, insanity, Random, random thoughts, rants
Everyday struggle …
I need one of these...
It has been exactly two months since my last day at work. Since then it’s been – interesting. In the last two months, I have been rolling seemingly non-stop. From Greensboro to my hometown back to Greensboro to Columbus, Ga. to Durham and back home. It’s been two weeks since I’ve been back home and reality has finally set in. I am broke and jobless.
The lack of a job leaves you with a lot of time to think and for someone like me, that’s not necessarily a good thing. I tend to think and over think and it usually ends in a panic attack. Thankfully I have yet to have a panic attack since the lay-off but that doesn’t mean I haven’t come close. Keeping these attacks at bay has proven to be quite the task. Lemme explain.
For me, my security is tied up in my ability to take care of myself financially. For the most part I have been taking care of myself for a long time. Even when I left my job in Tennessee and came home, I was home for all of two weeks before I had a job. In a matter of three months, I had two. I have always been able to make some money to support myself. This piss poor economy has made it virtually impossible to do that.
To be completely honest this has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. While my family and friends have been great and supportive, some days, hell most days, it’s hard to get up. My mom broke it all down for me. I am a person who needs to accomplish daily goals. When my feet hit the floor every morning, I need to have purpose. A plan. Some thing to do. Since I haven’t been working, I haven’t had that.
Since I got laid off, my life has been one long day punctuated by naps and visits to church. It sounds funny but it is SO true. If it were not for my cell phone, I would never know what day it is. A few weeks ago I had a job interview down in Georgia and made the decision that I was going to give myself a break on the job search for a while. I was getting burnt out and burn out is no good when you haven’t really caught fire yet.
To add injury to insult, the government took almost half of my severance. If that’s not enough, the fact that I even got a severance package rendered me unable to receive unemployment benefits until Jan. 9. So I had to pay the fee to break my lease, pay up what bills I could, travel to the aforementioned job interview and see my mom through a 5-day hospital stay – all on half of a severance package. When I tell y’all it’s been a struggle that’s exactly what I mean.
I am really trying to be OK with it all and some days I am. Other days I’m not. Monday wasn’t so great. I spent all day in bed. Yesterday was cool. Today, only time will tell. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in almost 17 months of counseling it’s I can only take it one day at a time. Today is just another day. It’s my hope that today will be a good day.
If y’all pray, send one up for your girl. If you don’t, send me some good vibes, thoughts or something. As of life, my life is giving me Notorious B.I.G. from the “Ready to Die” album.
For colored folks …
… who’ve considered homicide because they’ve had e-damn-nuf…
I certainly hope everyone’s Christmas was one to remember. If not, let’s hope things pick up for you on New Year’s. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, I feel the need to address my people about recent news of some of our people losing their ever-loving minds over a motherbleepin’ sneaker! OK, lemme back up.
All that ruckus over this ugly ass shoe!
Last week, the Michael Jordan brand released the newest sneaker in its retro line, the Concords. The Air Jordan Concord made its debut in 1995 when I was all of 13 years old. According to my internet search, Jordan himself wore the shoes in the Eastern Conference finals. In 2000, the shoe made a comeback, much like Jordan himself and another variation of them in 2006. Now they are here again in 2011 making complete asses out of Negroes from coast to coast.
When the shoe was re-re-re-released last week, folks lined up by the thousands ready and willing to pay $180 for the shoes. Folks were trampled, got into fist fights, peppered sprayed by authorities, robbed all over a pair of sneakers. They are made of leather, rubber and plastic. Sneakers, people.
The hell?!
If that’s not enough, the Houston Fox affiliate KRIV managed to find and interview the finest coons the Lone Star State has to offer. As a former working journalist, I know for a fact that most of us do not seek out these folks to stick them on camera or in the newspaper. They seek US out because they want to be on TV or have their picture run in the paper. Journalists have a job to do and a deadline and if you ask black and brown people who look, act and speak like they have some sense and they decline, you have to go with what you have. Sadly, this is what they had.
If you people insist on buying these damn sneakers, I insist that you conduct yourselves like you weren’t raised in a barn. I hate to say this but spending $200 on a pair of sneakers is why black folks won’t ever get ahead. While these Negroes were out waiting in line for hours upon hours – overnight – on a pair of shoes, the smart people (black and white) who own stock in Nike are laughing at you all the way to the bank. You just handed over $200 of your hard earned money to people sitting in plush offices who can afford to throw $200 away. They likely made that in 2 hours. How long does it take you to make $200? #YesIamjudgingyou
Frankly, I am disgusted at this cooney display and have since filed my paperwork to enter the racial draft. I’m hoping to go with Wu-Tang to the Asian delegation. Konnichiwa, snitches!
Posted in #hellbound, foolishness, insanity, journalism, Random, random thoughts, rants
