Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

I might do like Spike Lee say?...

...and get on the bus.

I'm contemplating doing the park and ride thing. It's for my sanity.

I'd give up a 40 mile drive (20 miles each way) and most likely some precious morning hours of sleep. I'd gain 2.5 hours of my day--2.5 valuable hours. Taking the bus will no doubt add about an hour to my commute both ways, but I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, it might be worth it--2.5 hours of driving time versus potentially 3, 4 hours (if you count my lunch hour) of reading time? No contest.

I went to Barnes and Noble on my lunch break today (my most common lunchtime activity, which I'd also trade for the bus ride) and bought 2 more books (the cover on the left is one I'm particularly excited about). Two more books, for a total of 5 new books in the last few weeks that I've had no time to read. I can't keep going like this. I read pretty regularly at lunch, but it's annoying to have to stop and start so often. And trying to squeeze in my book reading is cutting into my Essence magazine time. I haven't cracked the cover of the latest issue with Beyonce on the cover and I've had the mag for a week now. That's unacceptable and grossly out of character for me.

Sure, I'd save money on gas and maybe save money on buying books (I tried using the library-- alas, I'd rather buy than borrow) since I'd browse less frequently during my lunch hour, but this really is about stealing time to read and relax.

The closer I get to age 30 and the possibility of having kids, the more I'm mourning my sweet moments of selfish and solitary [insert activity that only involves just Me here]. A few extra hours of me-time a day...even on a city bus...would be awesome if I can swing it. I'll keep my fingers crossed as I check the bus schedules & routes.

Goofing off in class

So I'm in the middle of taking defensive driving online. It's supposed to take 6 hours, so each page is timed--I have to wait a certain amount of time before moving to the next page. As the time on the pages count down, I'm surfing the net and blogging, obviously.

I just finished the chapter on driving under the influence of drugs and they talked about narcotics. Every time I hear or see the word "narcotic" I think about Lawrence Fishburne (as Ike Turner) telling Angela Bassett (as Tina Turner), "I'm gone git off dat narcotic!" in What's Love Got to Do with it.

Another line from a film that will forever be etched in my brain is Loretta Divine's character in Waiting to Exhale telling Bernadine, who was trying to drunk-dial her soon to be ex-husband's new woman, "That's stupiT! It's stupid-and-is-childish."

This is my second time taking defensive driving. I think I've learned my lesson. I'll try to stop speeding, but will definitely do a better job scanning for the po-pos..

P.S.
I made a 91 on my Final Driver Safety Exam!

Reggae Music Festival, etc.

The reggae concert on Friday was fun--a great way to end a long work-week. Billy picked me up from work and we went straight to the venue, this place called The Backyard. It's outside and standing mostly. Some of the songs performed brought back so many memories of my college days. I remembered doing this one dance routine with my friend, Blen, to Shabba Ranks & Maxi Priest's-Housecall. I actually got a little emotional as I did parts of the routine I could remember. Needless to say, after working all day then standing/singing/dancing to Maxi Priest, UB40, Third World, and a couple of other reggae bands until after midnight, I was dog tired.

I slept all day Saturday, waking up only to pick my car up from the mechanic's, eat and go to the bathroom. Finally, after about 6:30pm, I got up, took a shower and had coffee. The lazy Saturday was much needed. I woke up refreshed this morning.

Now, after a couple of cups of coffee and watching The Cheetah Girls 2, which was, of course, awesome?, I have the rest of this day to try to have a somewhat productive weekend: MUST wash & Chi my hair, MUST do a manicure/pedicure, MUST take defensive driving online (very last minute of course).

Friday Randomness

• Disney's latest musical, Cheetah Girls 2 is debuting tonight. If you don't know I love Disney musicals and Raven Simone by now, you will never-ever-ever-ever know me.
• We just got a DVR so I can record Cheetah Girls 2 since...
• We're going to a Reggae Music Festival tonight to see 4 awesome bands including Maxi Priest & Third World. More on that later...
• Idlewild is coming out, finally. I also love musicals in general...black musicals are icing on the cake. Looking forward to Dream Girls @ Christmas.
• Pluto's not a planet?! What does that mean for astrology?
• My lunchtime latte @ Starbucks was extra special yesterday 'cause there was a reading for kids of The Little Engine That Could. Kids y'all. So cute.
• Billy's starting his new gig on Monday. Long story short, his company sold his division and he set out for greener (pun intended) pastures.
• The Devil Wears Prada is an awesome read so far. Loving it.
• It's Friday y'all!

Bind your blog!

Very cool and very affordable.
Had to share this link: http://www.blogbinders.com

From the MOUn.tain.tops, let Love Jones ring!

I shared my Love Jones DVD with a coworker...a white boy, y'all. He loved Love Jones. When he told me, I just wanted to shed a tear.

I feel like so many people missed out on Love Jones 'cause it was an all black cast and it wasn't a comedy or hood drama. I just want people to know Love Jones and to love Love Jones like so many people I know do.

Is that alright?

The Wonder Spot

Thanks, God's Child, for recommending this book. I hope to see you back in blogland soon, girl.

The whole time I was reading this book I felt like I was reading about little pieces of me only from, like, a strange parallel universe where instead of being a black girl with a religious upbringing in the south and strange but sensible insecurities, I was a Jewish girl with a religious upbringing in the northeast. Sophie Applebaum's thoughts and insecurities and experiences at different stages in her life are so similar to mine. In a way, this novel has assured me that I'm not such a weird bird after all. This was the first time I've read a novel and really identified with a character so closely.

The Wonder Spot is a refreshing novel following the journey of a young girl into adulthood. It's realistic and honest. The friendships and relationships (romantic, platonic and familial) are all wonderfully crafted and all seem strangely familiar.

This would be a really-really good movie. Adult Sophie is SO Janeane Garofalo.

A friend of mine wrote that she gages how good a book is by how eager she is to read more works from the author, which is a pretty good measure. The Wonder Spot is awesome, and Melissa Bank's first novel, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, is officially on my must read list.

The Hamptons

After weeks of starting and stopping the first few pages of this novel (due to random distractions and general brainfoggedness) by Ms. Linda Dominique Grosvenor aka PrincessDominique, I finally got a chance to read the whole work during my flight to Puerto Rico. The whole thing took all of 2 hours to blow through, partly because it's a relatively short novel (I had to check to make sure it wasn't a novella) and partly because it was very hard to put down...once I got to chapter 3, which for me, is where things get interesting.

This novel has everything: mystery, romance, betrayal, sex, a little taste of horror, a jewelry heist, unexpected twists and turns leading up to the climactic ending, all set in the rich folk's playground--The Hamptons. It reads like a really good Lifetime movie (beautiful woman married to rich man is betrayed and divorced, moves to a new place to regroup and start over, lands an awesome job, meets an awesome rich man, finally finds happiness and suddenly things aren't what they seem) or more fitting maybe, since the characters are all black, a BET Arabesque film.

The Hamptons was hard to find though. Barnes and Noble carries it, but neither of the ones I went to had a copy on hand. I ended up having to order an Amazon.com copy, which I think was a pre-mass-market print, because there were so many typos and grammatical errors. I've read that Linda's a NYT bestselling author, so I'm positive this wasn't a final print.

All in all, very entertaining and enjoyable novel. Perfect for airport/travel reading.

I'm impressed?

I saw this on another blogger's site and was SO not able to stop watching. I tried so many times to stop, but I was oddly too impressed to.

Burbs livin'

We went to the 2006 National Poetry Slam individual finals last night at the Paramount. I loved the vibe there. Everybody seemed so free. I really felt at home...at ease. (I NEVER feel like that in crowds, so I've got to get to poetry sets more often.) Some of the poets were awesome; some where not-so-awesome. The energy in the room was great--very positive. And the MAYOR showed up! I'm so glad Austin is hosting it again next year.

All week different spots in Austin hosted no-cover slams featuring competing poets leading up to the finals this weekend. I didn't get to catch any of them 'cause of my living situation. There are so many places here in Austin that host poets and musicians on open mic nights on a regular basis, but they're usually during the week and I have the suburbs to get back to every night. That's one thing that sucks about living so far away from the city I work in everyday.

Don't get it twisted; I love my neighborhood and my house. Sometimes though, I feel like my situation be hinderin' me...

Like Monday night, Connie Bailey Ray Corinne Bailey Rae is playing at Antone's downtown. I'm trying to figure out how I can make it home after work to walk my dogs, go back to the city to enjoy the show, make it back to the suburbs afterward and then to work on Tuesday morning. One of my coworkers lives 5 minutes from work AND from downtown Austin. He (and I imagine college students and other nine-to-fiver-city-dwellers) actually has time to enjoy weekday Austin events. I'm so jealous.

I'm gonna have to figure out a way to enjoy Austin more often and not totally neglect my husband, my pets, or my sleep. Maybe I should settle for weekends. No, all the cool stuff happens during the week. Maybe I'm asking for too much.

And I'm back

We had a wonderful time in St. Vincent. And by "we" I mean Billy, Summer and Me. We spent as much time as possible on the beach. I have the tan lines and sunburn to prove it. We went to the neighboring island of Bequia for one day and just hung out on the beach. Summer and I live in different cities and had been saving up conversations for weeks "for the beach". So once we got there we had some pretty amazing talks...dropped some bombs, laughed, nearly cried at times. It was great.

Billy, who should be called "Mr. Knows Everybody in St. Vincent", couldn't go 5 minutes without running into somebody who knew him, even in Bequia. It wasn't surprising to me at all. I mean, he knows more people in my own hometown than I do! He was really busy most of the time, which was a little frustrating since he's always busy most of the time--but one of the things I admire about him is how self-less he is. Sometimes that leaves me off his to-do list. But he's a great and popular guy-- whatayagonnado?

I will never get use to the passenger side being on the left side of the car or driving on the wrong side of the street.When we got back to Austin and went to pick our dogs up from Dog Boy's, I drove about a half a mile down a country road on the WRONG SIDE of the street. It even took Billy a while to realize I was driving wrong.

We got to see the natives dance, which was cool. In college everybody use to trip over how Billy use to grind on me on the dance floor. I'm so glad...SO glad that Summer got to see that Billy's not really that big a freak, but that's just how they dance in the Caribbean--maybe that doesn't mean that Billy's not as freaky, rather all West Indians are a little freaky?

I went to sleep every night with a small waterfall right outside my window. I opened my eyes every morning to the sight of a palm tree right outside my window. The view from everywhere anytime of day was always beautiful.

On our last day, we went to the wedding of Billy's lifelong friend, Summer's and my college friend, Eric. His family is wealthy and their house sits right on the beach with one of the most beautiful views of other islands on the sea's horizon. How beautiful? His property is featured on postcards from St. Vincent. Being there felt unreal at moments. It was too beautiful a place to imagine living there everyday, or even going to a wedding reception there. It was like being in a movie--being tended to by maids and having drinks seaside under palm trees.

We're going to St. Lucia for my sister-in-law's wedding in December. I'm already counting the days.

It'll be a minute before I get the photo album up 'casue I have pictures on 3 different cameras--4 including Summer's, but here are a few more I'd like to share now...

Getting my bearings...

I hear you Miss Berry.

Back to my dogs, work and life in the U.S.!

Our trip was awesome. It's good to be back. I hit the ground running right back to work after about 18 hours of travel back here. In about two more days, I'll be caught up on sleep and should have enough pictures to share with you guys. I'll be molting due to my sunburn for about 6 months...and likely unpacking for just as long, but it's all good.

Making the trip down to the West Indies was expensive, but the experience was priceless.

More later.