Tagged again…

MarloGirl tagged me on this one. Here goes:

Ten years ago, I had finished my first year of Concordia University and I was tired. That was about it for 10 years ago. Met Mr. Heartbreak, who swept me off my feet, literally only to drop me on my tail, figuratively, a year later. Eight years ago was much more interesting…

Eight years ago, I was going into my last year of university. I started my first summer job ever (the Quebec economy was no joke and jobs were hard to come by) at Mr. Rapps’ factory in St. Laurent, Quebec. Suffice it to say, Mr. Rapps was a disgusting, mean brute who, if slavery hadn’t been abolished, would have chained me to a table and forced me to stuff athletic knapsacks with hard brown paper.

Wretch.

That year, I cut off all my hard and rocked a short, Halle Berry style for the first time. I asked my friend, who accompanied me to the salon, “so, how does it look?”

“It looks good, girl! I love it!” she said. I was on a happy high with my freshly shaved and shaped hair until I waltzed into my parents’ house.

My father was horrified. “I had two girls! Not a girl and a boy! You had good hair, why did you cut it off? Then you’re going to want to put someone else’s hair in your head!”

A few months later, when I reached the uncomfortable ‘in-between’ stage (and I was well too poor to go back to the salon bi-weekly to get it shaped and cut again), I was wearing someone else’s hair. Braids.

Saw Mr. Heartbreak again and while I still was smitten with him, I didn’t let him know how I felt. If he wanted to be with me, as an acquaintance named Tracey told me, he would be with me. He flirted, I smiled. He left with his girlfriend, I left with my pride.

Five years ago, I was working at the Toronto Star and I had a love/hate affair with the place. I loved the fact that I had the opportunity to report for the largest paper in Canada, but I hated the fact that for all the talk of diversity and giving young people a chance, the only young people getting chances were the ones who didn’t look like me.

I had been offered, verbally, a job in the Life department earlier that summer. My contract was almost up and it would have been an amazing experience to work in the Life department. Some of my best stories had been printed front page, I had gotten plenty of positive reader feedback and commendations from veteran reporters who liked what I was doing.

Well, ain’t nothing set until it’s in writing. When I approached the then Life editor about her offer of a job, she sat me down.

“I was meaning to talk to you about this,” she said as she sat at her desk. “Ummm, this is very hard to do.”

“What’s going on?” I squeaked out. I hadn’t even tried to look for a job because I thought I had this in the bag. I started to get nervous.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t give you the job. We (the editors) have had discussions and we offered the position to [INSERT NAME].”

Well, ain’t that a *bleep*?

Mr. Man who was offered the job to didn’t like to come in to work at all. He would use the taxi coupons they gave us to run around the city while reporting to carry his drunk tail home after a night of drinking. He would give in about one feature a month, if they were so lucky. I had numerous stories on the go with a bunch in my head that I hadn’t started on.

Boy, success isn’t about merit, is it?

I got up, trying to be professional and I walked out of her office. I got my purse, and, although it was only about 11 o’clock in the morning, I was done for the day. I called my mother and cried. Then I headed over to my friend’s apartment and proceeded to bawl.

I learned a lesson that summer, if you haven’t signed the contract, the job is NOT yours.

One year ago, life was good. I was dating a nice blockheaded boy and enjoying hanging with my friends. The job was kicking my tail, but I started taking a writer’s course at University of Toronto and I realized how much I missed putting my thoughts down on paper. So, I picked my manuscript back up and started writing again… and finished my book earlier this year. The end of the year was hard, RIP auntie.

Yesterday, big sis and I went shopping for her birthday accoutrements and some stuff for Pops. We went home and watched an interesting ABC News documentary series, Hooking Up, which followed 11 women who were searching for love online. There are some… unique people out there.

Today, I’m at work. It’s pretty quiet here this week, so I can entertain y’all with a blog.
Later today, the boyfriend and I are doing some shopping for a baby shower and we’re going to watch some movies and eat pizza. Yum.

Tomorrow, it’s the birthday of big sis. We’re gon’ celebrate in style, crack some jokes, get our hair did, go out for dinner and be merry.

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Five snacks I enjoy

• Summer ripened cherries
• Strawberries
• Chocolate truffles
• Starbursts
• Baby carrots

Five bands/singers that I know the lyrics for MOST of their songs
(I’ve only got two for you…)

• Mary J. Blige
• Fred Hammond – I know a lot, most would be stretching it.

Five things I would do with $100,000,000

• Give most of it to charity – what the heck am I going to do with all that cash? I can’t possibly spend it. Some good upstanding children’s charities, the Humane society, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation would get most of it.
• Pay off all my debts, my mortgage, the mortgages of all my family. Start college funds for all my under-aged cousins.
• Take all my friends – the friends I have right now – and do an all-expenses paid 14-day cruise.
• Travel – touch every Caribbean island, go to Africa, South America, parts of Europe. Heck, I’d go anywhere I wanted to.
• Buy a house in Barbados, a condo in Miami, a townhouse in Toronto and a bungalow in Montreal and decorate!

Five locations I’d like to runaway to

• South Beach, Miami
• Puerto Plata, DR
• Tahiti
• Bahia or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• My own little island that I'd buy with some of the $100,000,000

Five bad habits I have

• Cracking my joints
• Sucking my teeth at everything (especially at work)
• Not returning phone calls
• Not realizing that it’s not always about me
• Shopping when I know I shouldn’t (and the Lord has chastised me about that, so I’m on a shopping embargo. Sniff. And STC is having sidewalk sales.)

Five things I like doing

• Writing
• Reading
• Hanging out with friends and family
• Being outside in the summer
• Doing new things, like the chocolate course I took last Saturday. Fun!

Five things I would never wear

• A fur bikini top. Laugh, but I saw someone wearing a pink one at Warner’s Denim event two weeks ago. It’s just not right.
• Clear heels. Need I say more?
• Booty shorts.
• Any pair of pants/shorts that have ‘juicy, booticilious, sexy, hot mama, cherry’ or anything of that ilk on them.
• Navy blue. Just not a fan of the colour.

Five TV shows I like

• America's Next Top Model
• Law & Order: SVU
• The Apprentice
• Girlfriends
• American Idol

Five movies I like

• Malcolm X
• The Best Man
• The Harder They Come
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Dancehall Queen

Five famous people I’d like to meet
(This one’s hard too, ‘cause I really don’t love off any celebrity to the point that I want to meet them.)

• Oprah. She’s cool and I’d beg her to feature my book in her book club.
• E. Lynn Harris and Omar Tyree. I wanna pick their brains about writing and publishing.
• LL Cool J. He’s hot and he’s got staying power.
• Michael Jackson. I wanna slap some sense into him.
• Alicia Keys. She just seems like a cool young woman.

Five biggest joys

• Summertime
• Knowing that Jesus has my back
• My parents and family
• Writing
• Knowing that I have people around me who love me

Five favourite toys
(I only have three…)

• MP3 player
• DVD player
• A pad and a pen

Five people I’m tagging
(I can only think of four - KJ and MG tagged the rest ;))

• SepiaDreams
• Campfyah
• Lady Abena
• Letetia Nicole