FreshXpress

I get a bizillion requests to write, collab, brand, market, (insert verb here) ideas on a weekly basis. Saying yes to the opportunity to be a part of the FreshXpress team was a no brainer.

Officially launching January 21st, FreshXpress will be THE premier interactive voice of the young African American. It is our mission to provide fresh thought, fresh perspectives, and fresh debate on issues relevant to the African American community.

The site will cover everything from politics to business to sports to relationships. There will also be a section for moderated debate.

Stay tuned.

Random Rant

To break up the monotony I decided to let off a little steam.....


I'm generally a pretty accessible person. If you speak to me, I will speak back. I will hold a conversation with just about anyone on just about any topic. I'm starting to think that maybe this just isn't a good idea.... My overall experience is that most people suck. In addition to being boring, dull, and one-dimensional, they seem to be overwhelmingly dishonest and underhanded.

Maybe I'm just going through some things. Maybe this feeling will pass. We shall see.

Accept No Imposters

Ciara on the DIVA beat...... NO!

Ciara stays losing.

Click here for R&B rap that I support.

Tis The Season

I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday, whether you celebrate the Christmas holiday or not.

As I get older, it is more difficult for me to get into the holiday spirit. The only thing that makes me feel merry and jolly is listening to the 8 Days of Christmas cd by Destiny's Child. Of course my opinion is biased, but this is my favorite contemporary Christmas cd. If you haven't heard it, you should check it out. It originally came out in 2001 but it's still worth checking for.

Re-occurring Theme of the Day

"When you try hard that's when you die hard."

All I Want For Christmas

Christmas is fast approaching and the older I get the more I realize that Christmas is not about me at all. In fact, there really wasn't anything on my Christmas list this year.

As a kid, I used to ask for EVERYTHING for Christmas. One year, I asked for virtual reality....I was watching the news (yes, I watched the news growing up) and they were talking about this new invention that would create different experiences when you were hooked up to the machine. My poor mom went to every toy store in the city until some salesperson told her that virtual reality was more of experience than an actual toy. hahaha

Please don't tell me that I'm the only one that asked for ridiculous gifts for Christmas....am I?

Race Exhibit

Today I went to the Cleveland Museum of History with my parents. There was this exhibit called RACE that was pretty dope. If you're in the Greater Cleveland area, you should check it out.

I don't remember what this was for but it was a pretty nice sketch.

So basically we're all black.... and my President is too :-)

These shirts describe how the U.S. Census would categorize these people in the given year.

Everybody move to the back of the bus.

"Race doesn't divide us. People do." Church.

Why Pay Retail?

Hello, my name is me and I have a have a shopping problem.


There I said it.


Now moving along, one of my homies just sent me the 50% off code for KarmaLoop. So of course I had to feed my addiction. Here are some of the items I picked up:

My Favorite Things - Day 1

Oprah does a "My Favorite Things" show. I like Oprah. I like the put people on to things that I like. So.... from time to time I'm going to post some of my favorite ish.

American Pimp - Best Movie of All Time - I don't care what you say, there is no better piece of cinematic footage ever captured. It's really a documentary... but that's what makes it great. It's real accounts from real life pimps. I don't even really watch movies but I know this entire movie line for line. I'm pretty sure you can watch it in parts on youtube or you can read up on it via wiki.

R.P. is by far the most entertaining pimp. Gorgeous Dre was actually on myspace at one point... I wonder if he'll ever join Twitter??? On yeah, I decided that when I finally get my dog, I'm going to name him Rosebudd (with 2 Ds for a double dose of this pimpin').

PARTAKE!

It's Choosing Season

The convo was forwarded to me this morning. I'm still laughing... it's hilarious... but real.

HER *texting walking into Magic*: I'm sick of your sh!t
HIM: What? Huh
HER: It's dead
HIM: Yeah me too. I don't think we should talk anymore
*HIM changes Facebook status to*: "It's hard to let go of ppl but I don't want drama and it's best for me. A new me in 09"

It's cold outside so it is officially CHOOSING SEASON. Fellas, if you don't get chose, you get dropped. Getting dropped might suck but don't get emotional. That sucks even worse. Ladies, chose wisely.

*Disclaimer: This is based on a true story. Names have been changed to protect the innocent... and the guilty*

What More Can I Say?

I've started writing this post a couple of times in an attempt to find the right words to say exactly what I want to say in the exact way I want to say it......

I'm frustrated. Dumb frustrated. Over the past couple of months, I've put in a lot of work. Lost a lot of sleep. Lost a few relationships. Gained a few fans. Earned a lot of respect. It's all a part of the game I chose to play. Frustration is expected. But in my case my frustrations are more internal than external.

Externally... as far as reception from the general population and industry heads... the response has been positive.... better than I had imagined it would be at this point. To everybody that supported "Never Matching" and "Everybody Knows Me", all I can say is THANK YOU. The tracks have been on mixtapes and blogsites across the country.

Internally... within the team... things haven't been the best. There's really not much I can say about the events and happenings surrounding the situation...Family business is family business.

All I can say is that my heart isn't in it. I haven't written anything or been to the studio in weeks..... and that hasn't really bothered me. In the future I may feel differently. But right now...at this moment............

"Let's see what happens when I no longer exist..... F*ck This"



**This probably would've been the next song we put out. **
http://www.zshare.net/audio/527392846fbd855a/

We Dress. We Don't Match

I was BBMing Cheech like always.... She said one of her coworkers asked her what she had on that was red (which would warrent her rocking red shoes). She said "nothing" and proceeded to quote Never Matching. Ha! I freaking love it. Consciously not matching is spreading like a virus... and we all know where it started.


Basically, if you can dress... like REALLY dress... then you don't need to match... you prefer NOT to match.




This is Cheech today. And this is HER description of her outfit.... Fendi crossbody vintage like a mf, American Rag tank (blue), American Eagle long-sleeve shirt brown, Miss Sixty jeans, Jessica Simpson satin red pumps.

"Stupid fresh. Ahhhhh dipped. But I'm NEVER MATCHING"

Worst Ever!

This will go down as the worst sandwich in the history of the world. It's grilled cheese from the Lemon Tree. It was the worst $3 I've ever spent.

Its greasy. The cheese was like the cheese sauce from Mr Hero. It tastes like cleaning chemicals. This was an awful experience.

The Secret Society

I love my Blackberry. Really I do. I think I enjoy my Blackberry more than I enjoy the people I talk to on it. In a perfect world, everyone would have a Blackberry and they would all be on my BBM list (aka the Secret Society) and we could just PING! each other instead of calling.... that would be nice.

I've been in the BB game for about 3 years now. I switched over from the Sidekick I around 2005 and I've been all in ever since. Below are some of the various BBs that I've had.

The Curve: Jan 2008 - November 2008


The 8700: April 2007 - Jan 2008

Summer 2005 - April 2007

This is the first BB ever made. I would love to have one of these now. If anyone has one, I'll buy it from you.... seriously. (Or if anyone has a Motorola Timeport P935, I'd buy that too. I really miss the old 2ways.)

All my fellow BBers, feel free to add me to your BBM. If you get out of line, I WILL BLOCK YOU.

My PIN is 24A0262B

Cavies Game 12

I finally got a chance to hit my first Cavs game this season. The Chalupa Cavs aren't messing around. They spanked the Raptors 114-84. (For those of you that aren't familiar, the fans get a free Chalupa when the Cavs score more than 100 points in a home game.)

It was a good time. The food in the VIP Club was excellent.... The commentary by the old white men behind us was classic..... Steph played Yonce as I was walking into the arena.... got a chance to meet up with Katie at halftime.... it felt good to be home.

Of course I took some pics courtesy of my trusty Bold.

I think this was during the first break when they play the goofy games with the fans.

Sometimes you've got to kick your feet up and enjoy life.

A little game time action

I finally got my scarf today. So I threw it on for the game.

What can I say.... I got a good life man.

The PK Myth Is NOT True!!!!

Fun Fact About Me: I was raised in the home of a pastor. My stepdad has a church in the wonderful city of Akron, Ohio. So technically that would make me a Pastor's Kid.

I don't know why... but everyone seems to think that PKs are wild and crazy kids. It's NOT true. PKs are normal people. It's just that the general public decides to hold us to a higher standard for no good reason at all. NEWS FLASH: We aren't the ones that got the calling. We're just out here living our lives.

Personally, I'm at a point in life where I simply don't give a f*ck. The only thing that matters is my own satisfaction...so EVERYTHING I do is related to this goal. That has nothing to do with me being a PK. That's just me being me.

The moral of the story is: PKs are not unruly freaks of society. We are regular people, just like you.

How Random Is This???

So I'm checking my one of my accounts this morning and I got the most random email ever...

The Back Story



Everyone knows that Chicago is my favorite city (and if you didn't know before now you do). Actually, the plan was the move there after graduation. So my senior year I interviewed with a couple of companies in Chicago. As part of the final round to these interviews, I had to fly out to Chicago and go through a battery of interviews at headquarters.

It's mid-October 2006. I'm just touched down at O'Hare. I'm at baggage claim trying to locate my bag and find my driver all at the same time. Out of nowhere, this man starts talking to me.... he's pretty friendly... asks me why I'm in town... tells me he works in hospitality and event planning... he's pretty well dressed... he gives me his business card and tells me to contact him. (If you're wondering why he wants me to contact him, your guess is as good as mine. But hey, it can't hurt right.)

So that night I get to my hotel and send him an email........ and never got a response.

Back to the Future

Ok back to me checking my email.... I have an email from the guy at the airport in Chicago. WHO REPLIES TO AN EMAIL 2 YEARS LATER???? Anyway.... he's hosting a holiday party next weekend... invited me to attend.... I'm seriously considering going. He seems like an interesting guy and I'm random like that.

Just thought I'd share that tidbit of morning random with the world.

I Am The Monopoly Queen

My homie Val seems to think that she can beat me in a game of Monopoly. It's not going to happen. I DO THIS. Just take a look at my guy Joe (pictured below)after taking a loss from me. I destroy souls in Monopoly. You don't want to challenge the queen.

Yay!

I really like black & white. I really like gifts. I really like things I can wear. So this scarf that my friend Larry knitted for me is about to be my new favorite thing. Thanks Larry!

Jilly From Philly

I'm sitting here watching Dave Chappelle's Block Party on FUSE and just thought "I wish I was deep like Jill Scott". I remember back in high school I would listen to "He Loves Me (Lyzel In E Flat)" repeatedly and wonder if that was what love was really like; b/c if it was.... I wanted in. (It certainly doesn't hurt that Big Homie* included the song at the tail-end of Dangerously In Love during The Beyonce Experience tour.)

So smooth... so comfortable in her own skin... so D.O.P.E.

Below are some of my favorite video clips. (I apologize for the girl going off when Yonce* makes the song transition but it's the best clip I could find that wasn't stupid long.)

*Beyonce' Knowles will always be referred to as "Big Homie" or simply "Yonce".

I CAN'T ESCAPE THE BOOKS!

After undergrad, I decided that I was done with school. I was sick of class and MBAs are overrated. SOMEHOW I got draped off into taking the CFA Exam. I sit for Part I in June. So for the next 7 months... These 6 super thick books consume my world.

Welcome to My World

In the wake of my Facebook deactivation, I created this online journal to continue to share bits and pieces of my life with the world. That may sound pretty self-righteous but let's face it... I'm a pretty interesting person.

This site will have its fair share of typos b/c I make a lot of typos. I can't be good at everything. I'll try to catch them and correct them. But if I miss any, you should still be able to catch my drift.

This site will also be full of random thoughts, rants, photos, video clips, links, etc.

Feel free to send me emails and comments... or not... it's whatev.

Enough of the introductory bs.... Welcome to my world.