S is for random
today has been the best random day ever.
i was supposed to meet a friend in piedmont park this morning, for this $5 yoga class...however i walked all through the park & never found it, and my phone was dead so i couldn't call my friend to find out what had happened. so i walked around piedmont park til i was good and sweaty, then sat down by the pond and looked for a little while. it was nice. being in the midst of such lush greenery, with skyscrapers walking distance away reminded me of Central Park; particularly my favorite corner, on 110th right off the 2-3 (i believe that's lenox?) the south east edge of belle isle reminds me of that, too.
any who. i watched the ducks glide on the pond, and lots of friendly white and asian toddlers being dragged or strolled by parents & grandparents, as well as black, latino, & white pre-teens in matching red shirts, in some type of saturday morning camp. when i first walked to the edge of the pond, a latino guy was standing there looking pensive. he commented "nice view" i told him i hoped i wasn't disturbing him. he smiled and said no, he was moving along and then walked halfway around the pond. i sat on this stone/concrete pillar for awhile just inhaling & exhaling and still sweating lightly and then walked back uphill to my car thinking i would definitely return to piedmont park soon.
then i drove to my aunt rose's house but it was 11:30 am and neither she nor evelyn was up yet. instead campbell & jordan were watching tv. campbell kept telling me evelyn was probably up, then disappeared in the back. i felt like i had bothered his peace (i have never once seen him in the front room of that house--in fact i've only seen him once in that house, even though he is always there, every time i come over...he stays in the back, out of sight).
after that i took a roundabout route to the sears/macy's auto at north dekalb mall.. by then it was 12, and they said they wouldn't even get to my car until about 2, and that it wouldn't be finished until after 5. the guy working behind the desk was the handsomest man i have seen in a long time, reminded me of mr. rone, my volleyball coach. pretty cherrywood brown complexion, real nice smile, clean-shaven scalp, a few gray & white hairs in his mustache and goatee. easy going, prone to cracking jokes. he honored the price quoted to me by another sears, even though their particular store didn't have the half off labor special. at first glance he had that kinda ageless look, like he could be a premature gray 35 year old, or a youthful 55 year old...i noticed he didn't have a wedding ring, only because a class ring with a big ruby was on his ring finger. but if he's not married, i bet he has been before, and i'm sure he has grown or half-grown children because he just had that demeanor of a man who has put effort into loving someone(s)...it's rare for me to come across men who are gentle--not just when flirting with women, or consoling a child, but with people in general...
that's one of my uncle/cousin willie's most endearing qualities...he is sweet, or "kind" in the way people infer that only women or men who are courting them can be.
having no desire at all to sit for 5 hours in the sitting room that smelled like burnt rubber & stale air, or to roam the mall smelling like i had just been sweating for the past 2 hours, i decided i would bide my time with a movie. i picked robin hood because the only other movie of mild interest was "iron man 2", which i have heard mixed reviews about & have access to a link to watch it online for free...
that i liked the movie didn't surprise me, but i'm surprised by how engrossed i became in the story--maybe because i needed and wanted to be.
aside from the fact that i like those ancient britishy fairy-tale-esque action movies, i also wondered if the movie was possibly some type of anti-obama propaganda...it definitely isn't (although white people can be crazy and weave all kinds of false connections to warp reality). it's definitely anti-government but that obviously didn't bother me. i really enjoyed seeing cate blanchett in this role, as opposed to the ethereal role she had in LOTR...also, russell crowe's body is my favorite. that is what a male body is supposed to be: beefy, bulky, and muscular. so i enjoyed seeing him shirtless. i also liked the chemistry between he & cate blanchett although overall i thought he came across very flat and aloof rather than brooding & thoughtful. i also would like to have seen more acting from his lil crew in the movie...there were some gaps in the plot, and some scenes that were laughably ridiculous but i mean...this is basically an adult's fairytale so that didn't bother me either.
it's nice to see a movie where there is some righteous character called upon to be great, who delivers, and is victorious even after defeat, and there's loving relationships shown as well...it ended on a high note, in my opinion.
so now i'm trying to think of similar movies, other than braveheart or lord of the rings, that i can watch...
i want british accents & horses, and 12th-16th century stylings, heroes & heroines, love, people standing up for themselves, & victories....
so far the most i can think of are: braveheart, lord of the rings, pirates of the caribbean...i guess if i can't think of anything else, i could read some type of fantasy book...
sidenote: so as a child, i noticed that one of the voices in my head had a british accent. i blame this on early exposure to books by douglass adams, & the nickelodeon remake of "the tomorrow people"...and maybe 2 of my irish counselors at camp. but anyway it just seemed like that's how english was "supposed" to sound. every now & then i still feel like that, and the 'standard' american accent just sounds really annoying & grating to my ears, whereas most of the more upperclass british accents sound kind of refreshing. i have no idea if this is some internalization of colonization and elitism or what but it's true...
but i guess i shouldn't be surprised; sometimes i just get in the mood to hear certain languages, almost similar to how i go through moods where i only want to hear a particular genre of music. sometimes i want british accents, sometimes mexican spanish, sometimes french from france, other times haitian french, other times african french...sometimes south african accents, sometimes mandarin...i will watch movies or listen to the news just to hear it, regardless of not understanding.
anywho...the game is on...& i think i am going to order chinese, pick up a cheap bottle of moscato, & have a lovely evening of assembling my dresser, washing every item of clothing & yard of fabric i own, and breathing in some of this muggy may air.
i think everything happens for a reason...as much as i love to read & value literature...i think i'm glad i got discouraged early on from trying to major in english...as far as "useless" degrees go, i'm much happier with the one i have, although i think urban policy, anthropology, or sociology could have worked, too...
i'm pretty sure that at some point i will want to go to graduate school for something related to african-american studies...i think i want my focus to be something like african-american nationalist/separatist movements. so far the premise that i have is that in order for a culture/ethnic group/tribe to exist you look for certain common factors: language, music, art, land, spiritual/moral cosmology,--these things we call "culture" & other things, and how they function in that society. so i think i want to research different movements of african-americans to preserve those things or separate from mainstream american culture...so like movements to obtain land, deviations from christianity, even ebonics movements, natural hair, etc...
basically anything that could be considered to be an attempt made by african-americans to assert their identity as distinct from mainstream american culture to be protected, preserved, or returned to. and if research is supposed to be driven by a question or multiple questions, mine are: why this happens, under what circumstances or pressures, is there a certain type of person who more inclined to be 'seperatist' than not, is there a dichotomy between the nationalist & the integrationists, or are they different points on a spectrum? what effect(s) have these movements had?
i was supposed to meet a friend in piedmont park this morning, for this $5 yoga class...however i walked all through the park & never found it, and my phone was dead so i couldn't call my friend to find out what had happened. so i walked around piedmont park til i was good and sweaty, then sat down by the pond and looked for a little while. it was nice. being in the midst of such lush greenery, with skyscrapers walking distance away reminded me of Central Park; particularly my favorite corner, on 110th right off the 2-3 (i believe that's lenox?) the south east edge of belle isle reminds me of that, too.
any who. i watched the ducks glide on the pond, and lots of friendly white and asian toddlers being dragged or strolled by parents & grandparents, as well as black, latino, & white pre-teens in matching red shirts, in some type of saturday morning camp. when i first walked to the edge of the pond, a latino guy was standing there looking pensive. he commented "nice view" i told him i hoped i wasn't disturbing him. he smiled and said no, he was moving along and then walked halfway around the pond. i sat on this stone/concrete pillar for awhile just inhaling & exhaling and still sweating lightly and then walked back uphill to my car thinking i would definitely return to piedmont park soon.
then i drove to my aunt rose's house but it was 11:30 am and neither she nor evelyn was up yet. instead campbell & jordan were watching tv. campbell kept telling me evelyn was probably up, then disappeared in the back. i felt like i had bothered his peace (i have never once seen him in the front room of that house--in fact i've only seen him once in that house, even though he is always there, every time i come over...he stays in the back, out of sight).
after that i took a roundabout route to the sears/macy's auto at north dekalb mall.. by then it was 12, and they said they wouldn't even get to my car until about 2, and that it wouldn't be finished until after 5. the guy working behind the desk was the handsomest man i have seen in a long time, reminded me of mr. rone, my volleyball coach. pretty cherrywood brown complexion, real nice smile, clean-shaven scalp, a few gray & white hairs in his mustache and goatee. easy going, prone to cracking jokes. he honored the price quoted to me by another sears, even though their particular store didn't have the half off labor special. at first glance he had that kinda ageless look, like he could be a premature gray 35 year old, or a youthful 55 year old...i noticed he didn't have a wedding ring, only because a class ring with a big ruby was on his ring finger. but if he's not married, i bet he has been before, and i'm sure he has grown or half-grown children because he just had that demeanor of a man who has put effort into loving someone(s)...it's rare for me to come across men who are gentle--not just when flirting with women, or consoling a child, but with people in general...
that's one of my uncle/cousin willie's most endearing qualities...he is sweet, or "kind" in the way people infer that only women or men who are courting them can be.
having no desire at all to sit for 5 hours in the sitting room that smelled like burnt rubber & stale air, or to roam the mall smelling like i had just been sweating for the past 2 hours, i decided i would bide my time with a movie. i picked robin hood because the only other movie of mild interest was "iron man 2", which i have heard mixed reviews about & have access to a link to watch it online for free...
that i liked the movie didn't surprise me, but i'm surprised by how engrossed i became in the story--maybe because i needed and wanted to be.
aside from the fact that i like those ancient britishy fairy-tale-esque action movies, i also wondered if the movie was possibly some type of anti-obama propaganda...it definitely isn't (although white people can be crazy and weave all kinds of false connections to warp reality). it's definitely anti-government but that obviously didn't bother me. i really enjoyed seeing cate blanchett in this role, as opposed to the ethereal role she had in LOTR...also, russell crowe's body is my favorite. that is what a male body is supposed to be: beefy, bulky, and muscular. so i enjoyed seeing him shirtless. i also liked the chemistry between he & cate blanchett although overall i thought he came across very flat and aloof rather than brooding & thoughtful. i also would like to have seen more acting from his lil crew in the movie...there were some gaps in the plot, and some scenes that were laughably ridiculous but i mean...this is basically an adult's fairytale so that didn't bother me either.
it's nice to see a movie where there is some righteous character called upon to be great, who delivers, and is victorious even after defeat, and there's loving relationships shown as well...it ended on a high note, in my opinion.
so now i'm trying to think of similar movies, other than braveheart or lord of the rings, that i can watch...
i want british accents & horses, and 12th-16th century stylings, heroes & heroines, love, people standing up for themselves, & victories....
so far the most i can think of are: braveheart, lord of the rings, pirates of the caribbean...i guess if i can't think of anything else, i could read some type of fantasy book...
sidenote: so as a child, i noticed that one of the voices in my head had a british accent. i blame this on early exposure to books by douglass adams, & the nickelodeon remake of "the tomorrow people"...and maybe 2 of my irish counselors at camp. but anyway it just seemed like that's how english was "supposed" to sound. every now & then i still feel like that, and the 'standard' american accent just sounds really annoying & grating to my ears, whereas most of the more upperclass british accents sound kind of refreshing. i have no idea if this is some internalization of colonization and elitism or what but it's true...
but i guess i shouldn't be surprised; sometimes i just get in the mood to hear certain languages, almost similar to how i go through moods where i only want to hear a particular genre of music. sometimes i want british accents, sometimes mexican spanish, sometimes french from france, other times haitian french, other times african french...sometimes south african accents, sometimes mandarin...i will watch movies or listen to the news just to hear it, regardless of not understanding.
anywho...the game is on...& i think i am going to order chinese, pick up a cheap bottle of moscato, & have a lovely evening of assembling my dresser, washing every item of clothing & yard of fabric i own, and breathing in some of this muggy may air.
i think everything happens for a reason...as much as i love to read & value literature...i think i'm glad i got discouraged early on from trying to major in english...as far as "useless" degrees go, i'm much happier with the one i have, although i think urban policy, anthropology, or sociology could have worked, too...
i'm pretty sure that at some point i will want to go to graduate school for something related to african-american studies...i think i want my focus to be something like african-american nationalist/separatist movements. so far the premise that i have is that in order for a culture/ethnic group/tribe to exist you look for certain common factors: language, music, art, land, spiritual/moral cosmology,--these things we call "culture" & other things, and how they function in that society. so i think i want to research different movements of african-americans to preserve those things or separate from mainstream american culture...so like movements to obtain land, deviations from christianity, even ebonics movements, natural hair, etc...
basically anything that could be considered to be an attempt made by african-americans to assert their identity as distinct from mainstream american culture to be protected, preserved, or returned to. and if research is supposed to be driven by a question or multiple questions, mine are: why this happens, under what circumstances or pressures, is there a certain type of person who more inclined to be 'seperatist' than not, is there a dichotomy between the nationalist & the integrationists, or are they different points on a spectrum? what effect(s) have these movements had?