Miss Unpopular

Yep.  That's what you're probably going to be calling me really soon.  Why?

I've noticed over the last few years that doing the right thing, telling the truth about things and being in general honest and not fake, has become extremely unpopular.  Everyone wants their hands held, regardless of the fact that they act like idiots.  People want to continue to be wrong and live in and enjoy their wrong-ness but they don't want to be told they're wrong.  And these same clowns go around demanding respect from everyone else like the world owes them something.

I'm so over it.

Y'all know I've never been one to hold my tongue for much but believe it or not, there are a lot of things burning in me that I've held my tongue on in the past.  That's about to change.

I'm done caring what people think about what I think.  I'm sick of people feeling like they can't speak the truth about certain things without fear of being silenced by people who are offended by the truth that's being spoken.  A truth that while ugly, needs to be told nonetheless. 

You might not like me for it, but I'm done caring whether you do or not. 

Houston Family Chronicles

Yep.  Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who made money off Whitney Houston when she was alive has signed up for a reality show so that they can keep making money off of her now that she's dead.  They're using the whole "Oh we were going to do it anyway, this was in the works BEFORE Whitney died..." excuse. 

Right.

Every single member of that family has been talking to the media NON STOP since she died and not one of them mentioned anything about a reality show having been in the works at the time of her death.  Do you REALLY think they would have missed the chance to bring that up?  Not with all the media whoring they've been doing.  The reasons for Whitney's problems are becoming more clear the more these people run their mouths.  No wonder she had so many issues.  Seems like she's better off where she is now.  Yeah, I said it.  Am I that far off base?

Headlines - Hudson family murder trial, Balfour found guilty on all counts

William Balfour was found guilty of being a complete madman.  What he did was so despicable that I really don't even want to repeat it, especially what he did to the baby.  But I've always been a big fan of Jennifer Hudson's and my heart broke for her when all this happened.  I pray that she and her sister stick together, stay strong and live their lives with happy memories of their loved ones.  I pray especially for Julia, I can't imagine she hasn't felt any guilt behind this horrible thing that someone else did because she married him.  But who thinks of the unthinkable?  I pray she for no reason blames herself.  This probably isn't the end of it because he can probably try to appeal, but it had to be a HUGE relief.  Jennifer and Julia have handled the whole thing with a lot of class publicly...so well, in fact, it would be hard to imagine that it's any different privately.


I continue to admire these ladies for how well they've been able to navigate the media circus that's surrounded this from the beginning.  The Houston family could really learn something from these two ladies.  Go ahead, read the next post and tell me I'm wrong.

Headlines - The Bain girls are home.

This week two little girls were reunited with their father after days of being held by a maniac with a gun who deprived them of food, water and shelter for three days.  This after strangling their mother and sister to death, with help from TWO female family members and God knows who else.  Rather than face justice for his unspeakable crimes, he decided to further traumatize two innocent girls by shooting himself in the head right in front of them as the police closed in on them in the woods where he'd been hiding them.

I don't think there's anyone who isn't grateful that these little girls are alive and physically ok, despite probably dehydration, poison oak, and maybe some malnutrition.  I'm sure we're all hoping these little girls are able to help the police with their investigation and that they're able to heal and live lives as close to normal as possible.  What I'd love to see is them hooking up with Elizabeth Smart or Jaycee Dugard or both of them.  I'm sure these little girls would benefit immensely from speaking with either of these women who have endured tragedies similar to theirs, I just think that the courage these young ladies have displayed would help a lot in this situation.  Either way, may God keep His hand on Alexandria, Kyliyah and their family.  There are very difficult days ahead.  But if God be for them...

What's new with school

I start orientation on the 28th of this month and my classes start at the end of June!  I think we're waiting on one more procedural thing and then I'm all set so I'm excited to get started.  Now I have to work on doing some math refreshers, this'll be fun.  I don't suck at math, I actually like it and majored in Accounting when I went to school before...but at no point have algorithms been involved in my studies.  I hope I get that out of the way soon so I can put more work into it before I go back to work full time.  I'm looking for a part time job somewhere for now so I can focus more on school for the first few months, at least.  

My internet connection with Sprint is garbage so I'm going to have to end up getting cable internet.  Because Cox is all we have here in Hampton and they're a bunch of rip-off artists, it will be cheaper for me to get both web and TV because I'd be paying close to $100 per month for one or the other or both.  Whatever.  I'm going hard with school so TV will probably be a very infrequent luxury.  Til September, when it becomes a necessity, particularly on Sundays!  But anyway, as cheap as I am, I don't like the idea of having another bill because the internet I've already had for years with Sprint isn't even sufficient to complete a freakin' federal student loan application.  I had to go to the library to finish it.  Smh...can't believe I had to sell that crap to people.  Anyway...

You should see the list of software that I have to have, it's ridiculous.  Good thing I'm filing all this stuff on my taxes next year, who knows how many hundreds I'm going to end up having to spend.  It'll certainly be worth it, yes I know, but dang.  I kinda wanted to get something for myself this year.  Hell, a hairbow, something.  Til then I'm just getting excited about starting a new chapter...essays, homework and all.  Hitting the lottery wouldn't hurt in the mean time.  This ain't gonna be cheap.  But my education is priceless!

What's Going On?

I haven't mentioned it much, but at the end of November I had a really nasty injury to my low back that resulted in degenerative disk disease.  Sounds worse than it is, but when you sit 40 hours a week, it is not a fun condition to deal with.  I missed three months of work, went back a month, re-injured myself, went back out again, and finally got terminated from my job this week as a result of all the time missed. 

Eh...it is what it is. 

I knew it was coming and had long prepared myself for the possibility and planned my next move if it did happen.  Those close to me know how I feel about no longer being employed by Sprint, but no one loves the idea of not having a job, unemployment or not.  Fortunately, I live far below my means so I'll survive until unemployment kicks in, however, donations certainly wouldn't be turned down.  ;o)  But, in the interim, I have decided to go back to school. 

Pick up your jaw, close your mouth.

Voluntarily.  No weapons or force involved.  Yes, it is really me writing this blog.  No there is not a gun trained on my big ol' forehead as I type.  I WANT to go to school.  I am going online, however, let's not push things.  I wanted to tell y'all a while ago but I figured no one would believe me and you would all think it was an April Fool's joke.  I'm hoping to start classes at the University of Phoenix in June and I will be working towards a degree in IT, hoping for a career as a software engineer or maybe something in networking.

For years, I've SWORN on everything holy that I would NEVER return to school.  Just not doing it.  Not for me.  I'm not doing it and you can't make me.

Not so much.

I need my paychecks to have more digits and the only way to make that happen is to train in a field that really can only go up.  Good thing I like math a little.  I'm excited about the change.  I need it and as many of you know, I certainly haven't shied away from it in recent years.  Rest assured, I will be blogging plenty about it. The rantings of a workaholic, single, childless woman who suddenly finds herself without a job, deciding voluntarily to return to school?  Should be pure comedy. 

Ride along with me, and feel free to have fun at my expense in the comments!

Love, Nik

Trayvon Martin - UPDATED

Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in a gated community in Sanford, FL on February 26, 2012.  He had walked to the store and was walking back in the rain with Skittles and a bottle of iced tea when he caught the attention of George Zimmerman.  Zimmerman was a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who had a habit of calling the police for the smallest things and of being a bit hairtrigger in his tactics.  He had called them on this night too, saying he was watching a suspicious looking guy that looked like he was "on drugs or something" because he was walking around in the rain looking at the houses.  

Seriously?

According to the 911 calls and witness accounts, Trayvon notices Zimmerman watching him.  Trayvon runs from Zimmerman, yells for help, struggles with the older, bigger man and is then shot dead.  Trayvon was 17. 

Trayvon Martin could have been my son.  Your son.  My nephew.  He could have been anyone.  Anyone's kid walking home from the store with candy and iced tea.  He wasn't doing anything that made him suspicious.  This kid was shot because he was black.

Why do I say that?  Maybe because Zimmerman was a known racist.  Or maybe it was because the boy was UNARMED and all he was doing was WALKING!  Maybe because he had the nerve to be present in a gated community, of course he didn't belong there so Zimmerman had to go and teach him a lesson.  Why else would he approach someone if he felt he saw someone suspicious and possibly dangerous enough to warrant a call to the police?  Why would he follow him when he ran off?  He didn't see him do anything other than walk in the rain with candy!  If he was that concerned for the safety of his neighbors, why would he chase a kid who may have been trouble right into the neighborhood he claims he was trying to protect?  

Any WHY is the police department allowed to overlook this cold-blooded murder and do their level best to sweep it under the rug?  What makes them think it's ok for a 17 year old kid to be shot dead and his killer to walk the streets free?!  Why are they covering up what this guy did?  If they weren't trying to cover it up, why did it take so much time and pressure from so many in order to get them to release the 911 tapes?  Recordings which clearly show that Zimmerman was the aggressor in this incident and that Trayvon was screaming for help BEFORE he was shot in cold blood.  Why are they downplaying or trying to coerce witnesses into altering their statements? 

Do I seem angry?  You're damned right I'm angry!  Everyone should be angry!  This is someone's CHILD that is DEAD for NOTHING!  For no other reason than because he was somewhere being himself.  I don't care what color you are, no one should have to worry about their children looking suspicious because they have candy (something a few kids like, just so you know) or because they're the wrong color.  Trayvon represents EVERYONE'S child.  He represents every murder that goes unpunished and every victim of some psychotic wanna be cop who puts himself in charge of the neighborhood watch. 

Now before I continue, I have to do a little disclaimer.  You see, I know this blog has a good amount of Christian readers.  It's one of the reasons I waited so long to blog about this story.  Yes, I wanted to wait to hear the 911 tapes first, but I also wanted to get my language right before I put anything up.  Don't want anyone not to read about something this important because of a few choice words.  Having said all that, I apologize for the language going forward (really isn't that bad) but there is one thing about this that REALLY pisses me off...

Why the HELL hasn't my BLACK ASS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA had ANYTHING to say about this?!?!  Because he knows DAMNED well that before he got Secret Service protection, SOMEBODY at the country club he was patronizing asked him to fetch them another glass of scotch.  He, of ALL people, should be front and center on this because this has been him before I don't care how light he is.  The most I've heard from the White House (ain't that some sh*&) is this bullsh*& right here:  "[O]bviously we're not going to wade into a local law enforcement matter".

What the hell is that supposed to mean?  So a 17 year old black boy gunned down in cold blood doesn't bother my black ass President because it's a "local law enforcement matter"?

You know what...

I don't mess with politics here and I'm definitely going to stick with that since this is not about politicians.  This is about Trayvon Martin, a boy who I don't want to see die for nothing.  So just like so many of you fell all over yourselves reposting the Kony 2012 video, post about Trayvon Martin until your fingers bleed if you have to.  This could have been your son, nephew, brother, friend, student.  

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

UPDATE

In fairness, President Obama did make a brief statement regarding Trayvon's death yesterday at the White House.  A link to the video is here:  

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/03/23/president-obama-trayvon-martin.pool.html
 

It's clear that this is a difficult statement for him to make and yes, I do understand that especially now, as commander in chief, he has to maintain a degree of impartiality.  Having said that, his delay in making this statement is still troubling to me.  Nonetheless, since the FBI and company have become involved so for now, I'll assume he's saying a lot more with this action.