Change is Good

Felt like a change so did a simple update to the look of the blog. I like it but may test out the green background also since that is my favorite color. We'll see. Change is Good.

Thurgood on Broadway

What a powerful performance by Lawrence Fishburne in Thurgood! In this one man play, Fishburne brings to us the personal and triumph story of the late Thurgood Marshall. From his humble beginnings in Maryland to being seated as the first black Justice on the Supreme Court, this depiction of Marshall really captured my attention. The play itself is an hour and a half with no intermission. I was mesmerized right from the very beginning and could have easily sat for more of Thurgood's story. I was sitting in fourth row stage right...so close that I could see the mists of saliva as Fishburne delivered his lines. Actually he did more than just deliver lines...he transformed himself into Marshall. Had one not known he is a prominent distinguished actor, you would swear he actually experienced the path Marshall took. This may sound weird but at times I felt as if he (Fishburne) was staring at me. In doing so I felt especially connected to what I was witnessing and hearing. The writing was very strong and the flow fluid and personable. Graphics displayed on the white, bright backwall of the stage aided in the ambiance. I will tell my father to definitely go see this before the run is over. My mother would like it also but since she limits herself in terms of travelling to the city I'm sure she won't get to see it unless it's at the BAM.

There were start sightings too. I was reading in the Playbill about Patrick Stewart and who walks into the theater??? Patrick Stewart! He was sitting center stage in the same row as me. He's a fantastic actor as well. I missed his performance in Hamlet at the BAM but hopefully he'll be back to Brooklyn on many occasions. I also saw Jaleel White aka Urkell in Mezzanine. He looked good in his suit. In terms of casual observances, it was a very mixed crowd which was good. I am always inclined to believe that when there is a play or production centered around a black cast, very few mixed crowds occur. I'm glad to see my theory was proven incorrect. There were a lot of older white men in the audience. Probably lawyers. LOL. O.K. I better go. BTW...I slept really well...good stretch from midnight to 6am. I still feel like I need about another two hours but at least that was more consecutive time than previous nights. More later.

The Call

So, I avoided it as long as I could. Back to reality. Have to go in for a repeat test with Dr. L. I have to say that for a doctor she's pretty cool. I feel like I have to play Russian roulette with my life by not getting necessary testing simply because it's not financially feasible for me at this time. The last test cost me almost $500. That's one test. It's crazy. And to not take them could mean thousands in treatment for something that could have been aggressively treated early. I don't hear Barak or Hillary talking much about working, uninsured folks like me. It's all about The War and the war of words. Anyway, I think I'll get a nice gift for Dr. L and bring it with me at next week's appointment. She's the only doctor who has been working with me to keep the cost down while making sure I am getting proper medical care. All the rest have basically told me to see them when I have insurance. It's sad that medical care is so bureaucratic and expensive. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about all this testing. I am but i'm not going to fixate on it. Whatever is supposed to happen will.

Yesterday was so humid. Not my type of day. Wasn't feeling that great to begin with but when I got home I really just wanted to lay down....which I did. It was warm enough in my space that despite having two windows open, I had to turn on the a/c fan. That helped alot! Sometime in the overnight hour, it got really cool outside which was really great! Love the cool/cold weather. Didn't sleep well last night. Same tossing and turning as the night before. Won't get in until late since I was invited to see a Broadway show. That should be good. Hopefully I'll be so tired that I will sleep better tonight. Been having these crazy dreams. Can't remember the latest one but I do remember that it was crazy...weird. Anyway, I better actually get back to work. Mail merge project today. All last week I was going crazy reconciling the budget from the organization's recent event. Apparently they fired the guy who was working on it about three days after the event. The binder where he kept everything was like 15 pounds...seriously. It's like the man kept every freakin scrap of paper he could....and then made three copies of each! LOL. Can you say insanity. Needless to say, receipts I needed could not be located easily. I like the challenge. O.K. better get going. More later maybe.

Hot Hot Hot

It is roasting in my space! Did not sleep good at all last night. I probably should have turned on the fan on the a/c unit but I didn't. Felt like I was tossing and turning all night. Woke up after 1am and again after 3am. Don't even know why I look at the clock since I know it's mad early! When I did fall back asleep I had this crazy nightmare that involved bugs! In particular spiders or any variation of things with multiple legs. EU! More about it later...maybe. Anyway, i'm roasting right now and will probably sweat my way to the train and walk into work. I'm so behind on political commentary and trip related posts but will try to catch up this week. O.K better go.

p.s.

Thanks to the person who posted an anonymous message the other day. I actually cried when I read your comment (not sad tears). I'll still go through my ups and downs but it's always nice every once in a while to receive some uplifting words that I didn't have to generate myself. Even a motivator needs motivation every now and then! I am reading the book.

Thank you for reaching out! Be safe and be well.

They made it back to Mars

Go figure that man would try to get back to Mars but still can't understand women. LOL. Perhaps they will be able to figure out where they messed up with the language translation with Venus. Ha ha. How amazing is it that man can figure out a way to scientific instruments into space hundreds of thousands of miles away but yet they still can't figure out how to create peace? Another beautiful day outside. I'm actually motivated to clean up my space today. Feeling extra bold and ambitious today. LOL. I clean up all the time but today I'm ultra motivated to purge even more stuff. Get ultra streamlined! I will leave my closet for the end of the week so that I can get those clothes picked up for donation. Today I will tackle this mini-pile of paper, magazines, articles, and books I have that always ends up literally at the end of the sofa. No matter how organized I can have everything, that pile always crops up somewhere and I end up cleaning it up on Sunday or Monday. I think I deliberately create the mess so that I have something to clean up. Once I get rid of more stuff I think that habit will stop.

I also want to post the next batch of pictures from the trip and post about the first three ports which were different parts of Brazil. After that, I want to put some more stuff up on my intentions board and review my goal list for this year to see what more can be done. Need to run out to the grocery store for some minor stuff. The last thing I will do in my organizing fit is clean my floors. That's the job I actually hate doing! But it's a necessary evil. I feel like playing my music really loud today so I'll do that. I'm pretty quiet and respectful of the other people in this building (even though they don't reciprocate that sentiment). So for once, they'll just have to deal! I will stop at 3pm to pay tribute towards those who have served our country. I better go since there's much to do! More later.

Brooklyn Baby

What a really good day today! Lor and I explored the DUMBO area and hung out at the park. It was packed down there and we saw at least six different brides! They all picked a good day to get married and take pictures. What a fun thing to do. If I'm in Brooklyn when I get married, I could totally see myself wanting to take photos at the base of the bridge overlooking Manhattan (although it would be cold since I would prefer a winter wedding). While I know I can live anywhere in the world, my heart will always belong to Brooklyn.

Anywho, like I said it was a great day to be outside and soak in the sun (SPF 30 for me) and just enjoy the scenery. I'm really happy Lor came out to Brooklyn. Since 95% of my friends live in the other boroughs, I kind of feel like i'm living in the land of the dead since most don't want to come out to Bklyn. I don't know why not though! Were I live is actually called "The Village of Brooklyn". It's a hot spot. Who knew that when I agreed to move to my space that I was moving into what is now a trendy location. I certainly didn't know. I moved here for several reasons. I wanted to live out on my own before I turned 30. I think it's important for every woman to live alone before settling down with someone. For me it represents knowing that I can take care of myself regardless of what life throws at me. I also like how accessible all of the train and bus lines are. I can get to and from the city in a number of ways. If there were laundry facilities on site my life would be perfect! Oh and if I owned it then it would be perfect! LOL. I'll own soon. Just wait and see.

Lor and I couldn't find where the mini-golf setup was for the weekend so we just wandered and relaxed. After we went to my favorite place...the book store. I love being around books. So many different things to read about and then go out and explore. It was a good visit. She made me laugh when not one but two guys hit on me in the span of 10 minutes. What can I say, I was feeling pretty good today. What a difference a day makes. Sometimes I think it's good to have what I call "down" days since it makes me appreciate all of the good days even more. Still have more pictures to post and need to play accountant and pay my bills for the month. Do all of that tomorrow. I think I'll go through my closets again and get rid of winter clothing that I don't plan on wearing since the goal is to lose even more weight and be in training. O.K. Better go and relax myself for a bit.

Happy by Natasha Bedingfield

Ooh.. Oooooohhh.Landlords Knocking at my door cussing me out
Got laid off my job the night before
Can’t figure howI’m gonna fix tomorrow awayIf today’s still a mess
Can u tell me what’s the point man, It all seems meaningless
I wish that I could step away and breathe
This world’s trying to swallow me
Clear away the clouds inside my head
[Chorus:]Someone just tell meThat it’s ok now
What are you worried about
Got my dreams, got my life, got my love
Got my friends got the sunshine above
Why am I making this hard on myself
When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy
People lie, people hide, people cry, people fight
And they don’t know why
If fear is all that we should fear
Then what are we so afraid of
Cause fear is only in our heads
Someone please say...
[Chorus]Any day i'll go bad thinking bad
Everyone is against me and the world wants to fight me
Preparing to battle an enemy unseen
During my stressing I’m blinded to the lesson
That could be a blessing if Id be confessing
that the enemy I’m trying to beat is hiding inside of me
But it’s ok now...what are you worrying about...[Chorus]Keep your grind on girl...it’s your love, it’s your world... [Repeat 2x]

A New Day

Feeling much better today than yesterday. A couple of hours after signing off yesterday, I went with my mother to visit a family relative who always asks about me. He's getting up in age and not able to travel outside of home too often. Last time I saw him was at my cousin's funeral a couple of months ago. It was a good visit. He and his wife were looking after their great-granddaughter who is five. Nothing like kid energy to make you feel better. Before we visited my mother and I went to go get pizza. I had only one slice. Not bad considering that ten years ago I use to be able to garble down like anywhere from two to four slices in one sitting easily. Definitely an emotional eater but i'm much better at working through negative emotion these days compared to then. Crying easily is an outlet for all of the extra energy I have inside.

Anyway, it was good to see close family friends. Today Lor is coming to Brooklyn to visit me. It's always good spending time with her. She's such a good friend. With all of the celebration for the Brooklyn Bridge there is a lot of free stuff going on so i'm sure we will pop in on something festive. Miriam has been on my mind. I hope everything is ok with her. From her emails it sounds like there is a new season awakening for her. Transition. I want to check with her to see if maybe she can come to Brooklyn to visit me. She's never seen my space because her schedule is super busy and she is somewhat of a distance away. I'll see what she says.

I also started reading A New Earth last night. I bought the book at Costco two months ago with the intention of doing Oprah's worldwide class. I registered and everything but with the upcoming trip I fell behind. Took the book with me on the cruise and didn't read. I will make the time now to read and participate in the class which is posted in it's entirety by chapter. Was listening to Natasha Bedingfield's song "Happy". It makes me smile just like "Unwritten". I better get going. Lor will be here soon. More later.