love in other places

my friends often look at me crazy when i gush about madea and tyler perry and other ‘chitlin circuit’, black christian movies … i mean, three of my bestest friends just don’t get it.  it’s ironic,  but i get why they don’t get it.  but they don’t get what i get … in madea.

i am not the typical madea demographic.  that’s why they look at me crazy.  some college graduated black women turn their nose down at madea.  a lot of black militants judge her/him harshly.  and then half of them are like me.   we been to college.  we didn’t grow up in the projects.  we never even ate chitlins.  we have advanced degrees.  we’ve read frantz fanon.  we understood and agreed with frantz fanon.  we read assata … we used to wear headwraps.  maybe once we were vegetarians.

but shit, madea makes us laugh!

(and i cannot even go into everything else i love about madea right now cuz then this post would be stupid long.  i actually just finished watching ‘i can do bad all by myself’ so i will write a part two … one day.)

i raise all this because an interesting & provocative new blogpost has surfaced about madea … and before i saw a madea movie i expected buffoonery.  i expected ignorance.  i wasn’t sure i would love it.  so, i don’t expect you or anyone else to love it.  but don’t hate.  don’t dismiss madea cuz you might not ‘get’ her or tyler perry … just chalk it up to another comic act that don’t make you laugh.  unlike the ‘comedian’ who wrote the madea-hating blog … i’d like to see him get 5 million human beings to laugh at his blog. 

cuz funny don’t got to be funny to everybody … but respect that madea is funny to a lot of bodies.

i am literally sitting in a ‘meeting’ as i write this.    i love having a job and all.  

that’s all i can say.  i just want to sit here and  be extremely greatful that i have a job.

cuz it’s not like i have to pay attention … i’ve heard all this info before … but i appreciate them telling us again. 

and truly … it’s not every job that allows you to blog while in a meeting.  i am so thankful!!!

this is just an exercise of being in the moment.  giving something that seems trivial your full attention.  and making the best of a nightmarish situation.  all 3 at once!

what have you been dreading about this monday?  your one on one with your boss?  that site visit with the nast lady from company X?  the teleconference with the folks in sri lanka?  asking your mother-in-law to watch the baby?  whatever it is … just sit back and enjoy it.  watch your supervisor as his lips form the same words over and over again that you’ve heard a time or two before.  count the gray hairs under your co-worker’s nose.  revel in the simpleness around you.

accept your life.  it will make you happier. 

in britain i believe they call this … taking the piss.

who is roy campanella?  a grandfather, a spirit, the second negro in the major leagues, a hall of famer, a man … with an interesting family.  it does happen to be black history month as well.   who is he to me?  he is a legend.  he is half a story.  he is a distant memory.  he is my blood.  he is a man my mother knew.  he is gone.  he is always here.  in the subtext of our conversations.  he is a mystery.  i want to unsolve.  he is the reason i’m good at sports.  he is the blueprint for my legs.  he is my nose.  he is a legacy of prose.  he was indeed my grandfather. 

who the hell is debbie?  somebody i’ve never met.  maybe you can tell … but i never made it to that conference in dallas.  since i do love to travel and see new cities and since i can always use a break from my job this turn of events might be perceived as disappointing or negative.  but not so much.  i woke up on the morning of my trip with swollen eyes and so, instead of heading to the airport i headed to the doctor.  i had to get a steroid shot in the butt!  and they gave me sleeping pills that put me right to … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

when things like that happen i immediately think:  “i wasn’t supposed to go.  this wasn’t my dallas trip.”  maybe one day in life i will get another chance. 

where am i going with this?  i don’t take all last minute changes so easily.  there are life events that i wish i could handle with the same devil-may-care attitude.  usually things that revolve around my daughter, my family, & my non-existant lovers … my goal for the day is to treat it all like dallas. 

if it’s meant to be.  it will happen.  if it’s not …  get a steroid shot in the butt, sleeping pills, and keep it moving.

i know i’m not oprah.  nobody takes my advice on books in quite the same manner as that woman.  but i can read good and the next book you should buy is ‘when God winks at you.’  it is all about the divine power of coincidences.  it is inspiring.  it is small and short.  it is full of real but simple true stories.  it is all about how there are really no coincidences.

i was walking through the bookstore on friday night with my daughter.  did i just happen to look over at a bargain shelf?  did the word God in the title catch my eye?  was it a coincidence that i was going through things at that moment and desired a word from the Lord?  was it chance that i’ve always felt that there are truly no co-inki-dinks and that there are signs everywhere?

i picked up the book and saw it was on sale for $7.98.  it was originally $17.99.  i knew i had a gift card or two for barnes & noble … i knew i could walk away with almost a free book.  but was this the book?  what about the romance novels i like?  maybe there was something else … but since we sit down and read in the bookstore as if it was a trip to the mall … i decided to just start it. 

i fell in love with the book instantly.  i always seek to have my faith and beliefs affirmed.  i want to be reminded that nothing is a mistake.  that everything has a perfect purpose.  that every moment is weaved with the hands of God.  and that is what this book will tell you.  i love to read stories of people’s restaurants that burn down … only so that they can make it to the next level … and open multi-million dollar chains called ruth’s chris steak house.  (and i LOVE steak!)  but that is beside the point …

get this book … it will make your life meaningful again.  nothing that’s happened to you is on accident.  it’s all about how you dealt with the accident.  and if you still breathing after the accident … you have another opportunity to love your life.  you might accidentally fall in love with yourself all over again.

after the gift cards i walked away with the book for $.79.   all those 7s …. 17.99 to 7.98 to .79 … and if you add 7+9 that = 16.  if you add 1 + 6 that = 7.  back to 7 again … coincidence?

i was in that car accident in november of 2008 ‘member?  been over a year since my bumper started falling off.  still haven’t replaced it.  but i’d rather have an ugly bumper than not eat.

in march of 2009 they told me i needed new tires.  haven’t had the funds so they never got replaced.  until i got a flat in november of ‘09 when i replaced one tire for $50.  today when i noticed that the hole in my other tire was not ever going to go away i replaced it for the cost of $40.  that includes the price of the used tire and the labor of three kindly gentlemen, one of whom smelled faintly of liquor.  he was a coppertone black man with big blue eyes.  just a side note, go figure.

the point?  wait on it.  God will give you what you need exactly when you need it.  i didn’t need all four tires replaced in march cuz ‘they said so.’  i don’t need my bumper replaced just cuz it’s an eyesore.  if the tire’s hole had revealed itself to me at this same exact time last month … i would have been sh*t out of luck.  i was totally strapped on january 3rd.  i had to make a late payment on my car insurance.

the point?  whatever it is you’ve been waiting to get done — a waxing, a painting, a repair, an upgrade — if the wheels aint fall off yet … it can wait.  and here is where i learn to value the skill of patience which i’ve only recently acquired.  and it’s why i love time - once again. 

God orchestrates the timing of all things … and i love when i can sit back and just enjoy the music of my life.

right now i am either flying in my sleep or in dallas, texas!  i am away from my job at a conference.  i love conferences.  i didn’t think i would have time today to write a blogpost so i did this yesterday (but it feels really wierd to write that in this present moment cuz i’m really talking about the future.)  ooh, my brain almost exploded!  okay so this is brief … i want to share with you my new favorite blog … you may have seen it already cuz it’s been around but it is just sooooo friggin hilarious!!!!  in fact that sentence i just tried to write in the present about the future as if it was in the past … is a … FAIL!  failure to communicate … LOL … you’ll know what i’m talking about if you check out the blog … FAIL!  lol i just like to say that!

a recent photo from SUDAN … from this lovely photographer’s blog …

sorry it’s taken so long for this blog but my daughter and i have been spending a lazy saturday together. 

we did laundry, she practiced her violin, we read a little pride and prejudice together.  we had eggs and turkey sausage for breakfast.  i did some packing for my trip.  it was my baby’s idea when we were in the grocery store last night that we should make something we had never made before — stuffed shells.  

so while in our pajamas we got to work in the kitchen.  she did most of the hard work by mixing the filling ingredients together and stuffing the shells herself. 

i pretty much umm boiled water and provided guidance.  she made a new name for the recipe (see  the title of this post).  and then she said, “sometimes when you cook and you make a big mess you feel like julia child.”  she is my child.  and she cooks better than julia if you ask me.  she is an amazing recipe titler and thoughtful young person.  we had a ball and her cooking is tasty!   the bombshells get out of the oven any minute.  i gotta go eat!

who is tony jaa anyway? my action-movie-heads will know him instantly.  i just finished watching the protector again last night.  i think that actors who do fight movies have some of the most amazing energy ever.  like jason stratham for example.  and of course, one of the most awe inspiring MFs to ever do it on film is bruce lee.  if you don’t understand what all the hype is about bruce lee then watch him … closely…and again if you have to.  the energy that travels through his fists and feet … is almost palpable on screen.  but this is about the love in mr. jaa. 

 tony jaa brings the culture of the thai people to his action movies.  he often does beautiful movies with fighting scenes on elephants. 

my favorite elephant fighting sequences were in the film ong bak 2.  ong bak 1 was very excellent as well and i wondered how they could even get more creative with the elephants and shit but they did!  the protector is an equally good film (of that genre) that merges the history of muay thai  fighting with the thai gangster element of sydney, australia.  who even knew?  the energy thing might have something to do with the fact that meditation is a key component of this fighting style as it is with most other martial arts.  so yes, jason stratham and bruce lee  meditate(d).  and if you saw ninja assassin or even dolf lundgren’s old movie big problems in little tokyo you will notice that all true warriors pray, meditate, and focus their minds before they f*ck people up.

i love that tony jaa always triumphs over evil.  i love how often he prays to his ancestors before he kicks some major ass.  i love how he finds the pressure points and breaks em.  i love how he can fight a MF of any size becuase he uses his ancient knowledge of the body and his smarts.  but most importantly again it’s all about his energy.  you can actually feel it and see it come alive when he gets that thought in his mind like “this MF thinks i’m playing that i don’t really want my MFing elephants!” and then he friggin FLIES his knees into some poor dude’s chest.  and no this mofo don’t (typically) do stunt doubles or CGI.  love it!

if you have netflix or whatever it is you use to view movies in the comfort of your home … and if you can stand excessive violence … please, discover the love in tony jaa.  i’m putting spirited killer and battle warrior on my queue right now!