CANDIDLY REVEALED

I got this invitation to the launch party of "Easy To Assemble" just for writing about it:





Sadly, I won't be able to attend... It's in California and I live in Florida. Damn!
This might have been my chance to meet The Blum. Plus, I have college and work. So that cancels everything.

Thanks to T.B. for the invite anyway! Oh, well. Maybe next time.

*Sigh*

I watched the entire Republican Convention tonight. I was impressed by Romney, Giuliani, and of course, Palin. Tuesday night Thompson did pretty well. But...

Why do people think, and automatically assume that just because I'm black, I'm a Obama supporter? I can't stand that! And then when they find out that I'm not, they're shocked!?

I've had people tell me that I was a race-traitor, a Republican-ass-kisser, you name it. I've been called it. Why don't you vote for the black man? You don't support your own race? I'm a Republican, and to tell you the truth if John McCain didn't pick Palin for his VP, I would have voted Independent this year (Bob Barr).

You shouldn't vote for someone just because they're black, or a Democrat or a Republican. You should vote for someone who you think is going to be best to run the country.

Did you know that 70% of black registered voters were Republican until 1964? I don't think a lot of black people even know that.

And then you have a lot of black people thinking: 1. he's black, I'm going to support him. 2. He's making history. 3. He's black and he's going to help us. #3, most of all pisses me off!

HELP YOURSELVES! And yes, I'm black and I'm talking to my own people. I'm pretty sure other races have their issues. If there was a Latino running, it would probably be the same thing.

I'm ranting again, but I had to get a lot of this of my chest.
*Whew!*

The Republican Convention - blah. I mean it was okay. Nothing to exciting. Sarah Palin speaks tonight, so that should be good. BTW, John McCain's 96-year-old mother, looks a whole lot better than Bush's parents. I'm just saying. Barbra and George Bush, Sr. always looked like that. Ever since I was little. Old.

Today I hada little babysitting adventure. My neighbor has an old Roadrunner that he's getting restored. Well he's having issues with it and drove it over to this guy that repairs old cars. Well, the car broke down and I had to go pick him up. Note, I have lived in this area all my life, and I totally couldn't find where to go. I went all over Wakulla County, and finally after 20 minutes, I knew where to find him. I knda knew where he was talking about but I wasn't sure. I'm terrible at directions. You have to use laymen terms with me. If I don't know exactly where some place is, you better break it down to me. I mean literally break it down. Down to a "T".

Let's see what else went on today. Not really anything. I'm pretty much rambling in this blog. If anything new or exciting comes up. I'll be sure to edit and post. There's more going on n my Jeff Goldblum blog than this place.

I want to try and blog atleast once a week. That way, I'll have a lot more to talk about.

God it's been a long week...

I've been so busy with homework and updating my Jeff Goldblum blogs, sadly I've neglected "this" blog. But not today. lol.

I started school. I go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:35 AM to 3:50 PM with an 1:25 minute break in between. So far, it isn't that bad. I got an English class, math class, a web design class, and a sociology class (Marriages & Families). Sometimes, we get out earlier from our classes, which is good. I have to get up at 6:20 AM and I usually get in the parking lot about 7:50 AM. I have to drive 20-25 minutes away + with the heavy traffic coming in and out. I just hate the long walks across campus. I park in the front next to the administration building. So to keep from toting all 4 books, I get the books for my first 2 classes English and Math since they are on the far side. After wards, since it's break time, I go back to my car and get my other 2 books for my afternoon classes, which is closer to where I park. Then I go grab lunch, hang out in the library for a while, and then go to the Computer Technology building and wait about 30 minutes for my class. Then, I head off to my sociology class, and that's the last class and then I'm off home!

My teachers are cool. My English teacher has published 2 books already. On the first day of class, we had to do a communication assignment. We had to interview the person next to us, and then tell the class what we learned about that person. Well, I was talking to the girl and we got on the subject of politics. She said she was a Democrat and I said I was a Republican. No hard feelings. We just kept on chatting.

So when our turn came, I told them about her and her political party. Then she told the class that I was a Republican. You could have heard a pin drop in the classroom. Everyone looked so shocked! One dude yelled out "Go Republicans!" (I didn't need any help, but thanks for vouching for me). What's the big deal if I'm "black" and a "Republican"? Maybe that's it. LOL.

For our math class, if we are early, we can just go in and get to work, and we can do it from home, which is excellent! For homework, I had to do an entire section. 400 problems, only odd! It wasn't that bad, but I spend atleast 2-3 minutes on each problem. I'm terrible at math!

For my web design class, it's totally different. I'm use to learning the old HTML, now, I have to learn the new web standards. It's both 50/50. Some easy, some hard. I had to do 3 web pages for homework.

My sociology class - so far - is okay. No homework assignments yet. The teacher is new, so she's not use to the school and it's procedures. And she's usually late.

I have a lot of older people in my classes too. Not as older in my age 20-25, I mean much older. 30's, 40's, 50's, and early 60's! But I like it that way.

Florida is a very wet state. During Fay, only our lights went out a few times. There was some flooding, and since I'm near the river and the bay, there was a lot of flooding in some areas. No major damages in my area, but in Tallahassee, there were a lot of tress down, closed roads, flooding, sewers broken, hardly no one went to work the following Monday and Tuesday.

Gustav didn't do much. We just had a lot of wind. No rain. I'm just waiting to see what Hannah is going to do... I like tracking hurricanes. I though about going into meteorology, but I found out it involves lots of math. No thanks. I'll stick to journalism. lol.

Wow. That was a long blog. Don't get use to it though. lol.

The Republican Convention is tonight. I watched the Democratic one as well, but I ended up falling asleep. Let's see if I don't fall asleep watching this one...

I wanted to vote for Bob Barr, but McCain picked Alaska's governor Sarah Palin for his running mate!!! Yay!

My grandmother is cancer free - Thank GOD! Her surgery went well. They had to take off one of her breasts, but she is doing just fine! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

YAY!

Today, my great-aunt passed away. She had a stroke a few months ago, but she was starting to come around and do so well. Then today, boom. She's was gone. it was very unexpected. If you pray, if you believe in karma, whatever. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

I start school next week. Hopefully something "exciting" will happen. Well, I'm going to stop here. Gotta go get hurricane supplies....

Hi, I'm back to write another blog. I haven't been blogging much because frankly, I have nothing to really blog about. Life's pretty much been the same. Babysitting, running errands, lack of sleeping, aggravation, getting ready for school... Except for the past few days. Okay.

Bad News First
Bad news first. My grandmother was diagnosed that she had cancer. She's 94 years old. Hopefully, they caught it in it's early stages. She has to have more x-rays done before they can preform the surgery on her breast. They say it's minor, but they want to make sure. For the upcoming surgery, they don't want to give her too much anesthesia because of her age. The news has been rough on my mom since my grandfather died of prostate cancer in 1990 (I was 4). And my dad, his father died of cancer and his mother died of ovarian cancer. And not too long ago, his aunt (my great aunt) passed away from the same thing.

It's just been a lot of sickness in the family lately. My cousin was just recently in the hospital for having high blood pressure, and he had to get dialysis for it! He's only 37.

Here's a list of things that run in my family, that someone has gotten, had, or died of:
*Cancer - prostate, ovarian
*High blood pressure
*High cholesterol
*Anxiety / nervousness

... that's all I can think of right now.

Can anyone relate? They'll all be in my prayers. I so need a miracle right now. It's just that sickness and death has been just on the rampage this summer (have you seen the rest of my blog?).

Okay, now that's out of the way.

I haven't even been on a real vacation this summer - at all! I usually go to Daytona Beach atleast for the weekend, but I couldn't even to that. Gas prices, not much money, and trying to get into school... it sucks. And with all of this going on, I need a break before my head explodes!!!!!!!!!!!


GOOD NEWS!
I went with my niece to open house for high school yesterday. She's going to be a freshman (my baby's growing up. Damn, I'm old!) lol. I got to see a few of my teachers (the ones that are left). She has my American History teacher for homeroom (she's having a baby!). I saw my American Government teacher. My World History/Psychology teacher (my favorite!). I saw him coming down the hall while my niece and sister-in-law were talking to my AH teacher. I waved and he was like "Oh, my God!" and we hugged each other (aww!). And he was like, "Come here." So I went into the classroom with him and he showed me all of the postcards I used to get him when I traveled and my 11th grade photo. He still had it! He was shocked when I told him I went, Re-pub-li-can. We talked for like, 5 minutes. lol

My niece got my old math teacher. I saw my British Literature teacher. My speech teacher. And my 7th grade teacher from junior high (she said I was getting older! lol) It was just so much fun. There were teachers there that my sister-in-law had/knew, and she graduated in 1991! My Spanish teacher re-married and she's retiring after this school year.

Luckily, I still can keep in contact with all of them pretty much through the e-mail (yes, e-mail is awesome!). They were all surprised when they saw me. I saw relatives I haven't seen in - years!

I haven't been there in 2 years, and they changed so much. New principal, new teachers, teachers switching positions (my Environmental Science teacher is now an assistant principal), teacher's retiring, and worst of all, change of classrooms! I myself, go lost several times. lol.

I start school this Fall semester on the 26th of this month. Yay...

Well, that's pretty much it. Anything else I can think of, I'll write.
Bye.

RIP to 2 of Hollywood's greatest:

Bernie Mac (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008)






and






Isaac Hayes (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008)






Coincidence? Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac were to do a project together called "Soul Men" (click here). And Isaac died 10 days before his birthday.

My prayers go out to both families.

Yeah, I know. Not really big news, hun? Well, The Golden Girls just happen to be my favorite show, so I'm just showing my love.


From E! Online:

Television is mourning one of its Golden Girls.

Estelle Getty, the cantankerous octogenarian Sophia on the classic NBC sitcom, has died at the age of 84.

Getty, who suffered from dementia, passed away early this morning at her Los Angeles home surrounded by her family, acording to her son Carl Gettleman.

Donning a granny wig and oversize glasses to play a character 20 years older than herself, Getty won an Emmy and Golden Globe as the wisecracking oldest member of The Golden Girls, costarring with Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan.

"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duo's ever, and I will miss her," Arthur said in a statement.

The sitcom, which ran from 1985 to 1992, gave Getty her breakthrough role at age 61, after she struggled for years as a character actress.

We'll miss you Sofia!



There's a lot of deaths posted in my blog....

RIP Tony Snow!
We will miss you!

Where have I been!? I've been busy. I just haven't felt like writing. I mean, the family reunion went great. We had it for 2 nights. The first night way way better than the second. A few family dramas, but you know how that goes. Lake Talquin was awesome! I hated walking up those hills, but it was very peaceful. It was hot as heck too! We had a cookout on Sunday, with just my family from Daytona.

Hmm... what else happened? (You can tell that I'm not really in the mood for blogging).

My 4th of July weekend went well. We really didn't do anything on that day, except that night we watched fireworks for the neighbors house. That Saturday, we went fishing and I caught 3 big fish! They (my family) hates when i go fishing. I catch all of the fish. lol

I discovered a new artist. His name used to be "50 Shekel". The Jewish 50 Cent. Well, he's Aviad Cohen. He's a Messianic Jew now. He has awesome music!

Well, that's pretty much what's been going on with me.

Bob Barr 2008

RIP Tim Russert










From Tim

- “America has just begun the 21st century. if you could select two items for a time capsule that best represents America in the 21st Century. what would they be?”

- “No one likes to be in the center of these things,”

- “I'll do what I have to do.”

- “We have lost one of our very, very best,”





From Me
I may have not agreed with many of Tim's views, but as an aspiring/future/fellow journalist, and as a human being, I must give to respect and love to a great debater and wonderful journalist. His legacy will live on forever in the world of journalism, TV, and American History. Thank you Tim for all that you've done. I pray that God be with you, your family, friends, colleagues, and all of the lives you've touched. Rest in peace, Mr. Russet.

We love you!

- Joyce

Hey!!! Long time no blogging. Everything has been pretty much the same. Get ready for the Fall semester in college, babysitting, running errands...

I created a new Jeff Goldblum page at MySpace - Ultimate Jeff Goldblum. I feel I'd get more exposure on MySpace than I would on Yahoo! groups. And in the process, in just 30 minutes of creating the page, I got 1 new member and I discovered 2 Jeff Goldblum fansites. It's enough to start my Goldblum Project (if you visit the group, you'll find out about it)...

Hmmm... what else has been going on? My grandmother turned 94! on June 07. I think it's amazing for someone to have lived that long. She lived through the most memorable and historical times in US history. She was born during the start of WWI (1914), she was 4 when it ended (1918). She's been through 13 presidents, WW2, The depression, segregation, went through 3 of the greatest decades of all time - in my opinion -the 60's, 70's, and 80's, seen more inventions and new trends than anyone else I know. For a history buff like me, that's AMAZING!

AND out lived all 5 of her brothers and sisters, AND birth 17 children!!!!!!!!

And here she is, 94 years old doesn't need glasses to read, still can move around, cook, and is still very much a lively.

That's a phenomenal woman! What a milestone!



We have a family reunion coming up on the 21st of June, I'll let you know how it goes + pictures on Flickr! I'm going to do a little shopping next week (that should be fun!), my niece and I. The Mall, Old Navy, Starbucks, and Chick-Fil-A! That place, is truly, heaven sent!

Tootles!

In My Bag is giving away a $25 Lowes gift card! Participating in the contest is as easy as creating a blog entry that links to the contest. For more information, see the official contest blog entry: Win a Lowes gift card!

Today the funeral went well. We got up around 4:30 AM and headed out around 5:15 AM (even though my daddy said we were leaving AT 5:00 AM). We got down there around 9:30 AM. The funeral stared at 11, so we put on out clothes and went down to the church. I didn't plan on going at first, but eveyone else was going so I said, what the heck. My nephew stayed at the house with my uncle.

It wasn't that long, either considering (not trying to be racist to my own race), but black people aren't usually on time. It lasted for about an hour. Not too full either. The choir was terrible, though. My dad got up and sung a song, and it was still better than them! The preacher was good, even though I didn't understand what he was saying half of the time. Then family and friends got up and said a few words. My uncle preached a sermon about the book of Esther (considering that was my aunt's name). In a nutshell, he talked about how important family is (especally if you loose them), and not to forget where you come from, and not to forget about God. It was really good.

I usually don't go to funerals. They creep me out. I didn't want to view the body, but I had no choice because it was open casket until the service started. They creep me out because I start thinking crazy like what if that was my mom, my dad, my sister, brother, grandma, uncle, or anyone that I was close to. A friend. And usually if I end up crying, it's from that instead of actually crying about the dead person. Am I crazy for thinking that?

After the service, we mingled with family and friends and pretty much caught up with each other. My other uncle that was there (I have a ton!) said: "It's pretty sad that it takes a funeral to bring the family together, and we live in the same area." Which, I gave a lot of thought and agreed. It's sad, but it's true...

We didn't go to the burial. It was already 93 degrees (at 12:30!) , we were wearing black, and my feet hurt from the heels that I was wearing! My mom had cooked something for the family, so we took that down to the church. We went back to my aunt's house and said our "hopefully temporary goodbyes", and we left.

Now, I'm sitting here writting and refecting on today's events, and glad to be home with my family.

I discoved something on the web. Maybe I'm just late, but GoDaddy.com is giving away .ME domains. Yes. You could have yourname.me. Don't believe me?

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/tlds/me.asp?tld=tv&ci=12487

Are we that narcissistic now a days? I just thought it was pretty interesting and funny! Honestly, if I was web savvy as I wanna be I'd probably have one.

Next, they'll have domains for dogs and cats. www.fido.dog or www.fluffy.cat
ilovemydogs.pets. The possibilities are endless!

For the FIRST TIME in my life, today... I gained 100 POUNDS!
It way not sound like much but to me, it's like a milestone. LOL

Maybe it's because of my monthly cycle? I've always been between 95-98 lbs. But don't know. Baby fat?

Just ranting...!

My great-aunt on my dad's side died 2 days ago. I knew her, but I didn't know her that well. She was very sick. She had ovarian cancer. It runs in my family. My grandmother died of it. It's a very scary thing now that I realize that it happened to so many people, especally THIS close in the family.


I'm defenantly going for my check ups and GYN appointments! I get my paps every year. I was told that you had to get one ONLY if you were sexually active, but since I'm not, I didn't get one. BUT when I went to the doctor, I asked her about it, and she said it didn't have anything to do with whether you were sexually active or not. So now, I usually go after my birthday. Just to keep up with my age and growing & changing stages. Maybe this blog is ust revealing a little to much privacy!

Her funeral is next Saturday. RIP Great-Aunt Esther.

In other family news, my uncle Raphael is doing well. He had to get his foot amputated and then he had to go back to the hospital because his leg that had teh amputated foot started bleeding But that God now that he's fine.


Aside from that, I did a little shopping over the past 2 days. Mostly for summer clothes and things for the upcoming family reunions in June and July.


I can now access the neighbors' (that I babysit for) wireless internet access. His wife fixed my wireless problem (it would pick up, but it won't connect to the browser). She a computer programmer.

Does this mean more blogging for me?