This Is How We See It

This is change we can believe in.

Reality bites for some but I am here to tell you, this is a BEAUTIFUL first family.
We all know that it's going to be a difficult road, but it is time to face these battles without fear. That what I really like about Barack Obama. This man walks into this race, knowing the possible outcomes and he walks without fear.

As stated in Job 11:14-16 verse:

if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.
You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.

Get out there and vote November 4th!!! Ba-rack the vote!!!

Take A Stand Against the One Floor Riders

We the people at various jobs that are located in high rises are tired of this and we want it to stop now!!!

I am talking abou the One Floor Riders (or OFL). You know the ones: they wait at least 5 minutes for an elevator just to go up or down to the next level instead of taking the dayum stairs.

If you have something that you are carrying that is heavy, then yes I understand. Go ahead and take the elevator. But when you are just sitting there with a bag from Chick-Fila, or matter of fact nothing at all, and you get on the elevator from the FIRST floor to go to the SECOND floor??? Come on. It doesn't take that much energy to use the stairs.

Here in my building the OFL's are very frequent among the 3rd and 4th floors. Today I got on the elevator from the 7th floor (where I work) to go down to the 1st floor to get a soda from the canteen. The elevator stops on the 3rd floor. Here comes an unidentified OFL (never seen this person before so she is unidentified). The person on the elevator with me (he got on from the 7th floor too) asked her what floor she's going to. This chick is going to say "2". 2???? where all you had to go is go down the stairs to the second floor and it would have been a wrap???

That really gets to me. As much as doctors talking about getting at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for better health, walking up or down one floor should not hurt anybody at all. The next time you are on an elevator, think about that OFL that interrupted your ride to the 10th floor all because she wanted to ride the elevator from the 2nd to the 3rd floor, the same person that knows where the stairs are at, can clearly see the signs but is too lazy to even climb up the stairs.

That's my vent for today.

Gas Prices Are Coming Down

These gas prices are coming down...and they should be!!!

In my neighborhood, gas is now at $2.27 a gallon but there are some places in Columbia that are reporting $2.19 a gallon as of today.

Just because they are coming down, doesn't mean we should storm the gas stations by force.

We should continue to use gas sparingly. We should only drive when needed, plan our trips way ahead of time ( I say at least 6 months ahead of time). The less money we pay in gas, the more money we have to take care of other bills. I know so many people (including myself) who had to sacrifice a bill so that can have gas to get to work. Groceries list ending up shrinking to mere neccessities because of gas prices. I don't drive unless I have to, and the most driving I do is on the weekends when I am attending networking parties and other events. This is one small feat I believe we all are proud of.

Hair-raising Friday

May, 2008

June, 2008

August, 2008

September, 2008

October, 2008

These are differnt pics of me since I've had my hair cut back in May, 2008. Since then it has grown some and I am glad. The short bob was cute, but I had to keep my hair up every 4 to 6 weeks because the back of my hair grew so fast.

I have read so many hair blogs this week, I've decide to write my own. At least how I maintain mine.

I wanted it done this week because I am attending a pajama party hosted by one of the motorcycle clubs in Aiken. I will have to figure out the style part before Saturday night. I just needed my hair permed because the back kitchen was saying "Wee ooh wee ooh wee, like a cop call."

My cousin Symoan relaxed it, after my niece Asya wasn't able to. Asya was extremely upset that she could not make the football classic in Alabama this weekend. My thing was you ain't getting in my hair upset so I called my friend Debra, who by this time I think was sleeping. Debra and Asya are the only two people I really allow in my hair as far as relaxing it. Asya is the backup in case Debra is not available because Debra can relax and cut (or trim if you hair needs trimming). Asya can relax and style, including updos and things like that. I haven't seen her trim ends and she will need a doll to practice on first. She's only 16, so I'm not allowing her to cut nothing off of my hair right now. Symoan did a good job. Afterwards, I conditioned my hair, wrapped it while it was still damp, and tied a silk scarf over it and called it a night. I am not a fan of the hair dryer unless I am a rush. I wasn't going no where so...

My this morning my hair was completely dry and it came out exactly the way I wanted to: straight. I had to use some castor oil conditioner because my hair was dry and it had to have some shine and bounce. I only do that once a week anyway, as well as the flat ironing of my hair. That's a once a week thing. I am not into curling hair all the time no way.

Usually in between touch ups, I wash my hair once a week with Infusium 23 shampoo, do a hot oil treatment with Africa's best 6 in one oil, and use Infusium 23 leave in conditioner, wrap and go. Using the leave in conditioner eliminates me from adding more oil to my hair when it's done cause it normally last the entire week (the shine that is). Of course I would need to be already in my house for the day and have no plans on going anywhere else. If I can help it, I am not drying my hair. If I airdry it without wrapping it, then I will have to section it out in small pieces and flat iron it. If I wrap it and put the scarf on it, tied it down tight, then all I have to do in the morning is comb my hair down and flat iron it a little (if neccessary).

Now that my hair is of length for now, I am going to get it braided. It's already cold some days in the south and I need my braids. I plan on getting those done before Thanksgiving break. We got alot of activities going on at home, with alot of home town people coming back in from their homes so I gotta look sharp, lol. I got a few cousiins that braid hair who live close to me, and one of Asya's friends braids so I am not lacking a braider in that department. I remember how my cousin Tina from Philly would come down and practically buy all the braiding hair I had at home because she said it was cheaper here than it is there. The same pack of $1 yaky synthetic braid that curls up on the end she said cost $4. I told her we have hair like that down here too, but she emphasis that it was the same brand of hair we had for $1 was $4 there. I am like WOW!!!

The same it is for braiding. The cost ratio is way different here than there. Most girls learn how to braid hair early ( I learned how to cornrow when I was 10) but Shawn from up the street will take $20 or whatever you give her (that really gets to me when someone don't set a price, just say "Whatever you give me". Okay, then I'll give you a $1!!! I wouldn't do anyone like that but still). I think Tina told me her daughter (who is 25, lives in Philly) charges 45 for goddess braids and somewhere around $130 for micros and that depends on what kind of micros. Dayum. The financial resources here are no where near what Pennsylvania has. Personally, I never had to pay over $65 for micros. The braiders here in Columbia (the ones in the shop) charge between $150-200 with the hair (sometimes without). Lil Shaniqua down the street-$20 with your own hair, $30 without. Most of the time Shaniqua will do better than some of the braiders in the shop.

I'll know what I am going to do in the next few weeks. I am saving my money for the braider, the hair itself, and the hair supplies to keep it up. I plan on having my hair braided through March and the first day of spring. That way it will get a rest from relaxing. Sometimes I say that and will renig because I just like to be versatile. I could wear a wig but I get tired of that too. We will see.

Hope all have a good weekend

Potluck at the Office

Today our office team members got together to hold a Fall Luncheon aka The Office Potluck. Everyone was responsible for bringing at least one item. I can cook but I don't cook that often. I can however bake just about anything.

I didn't know exactly what I was going to make. I had this old issue of Woman's World Magazine that was sitting on my desk so I picked it up to see what recipes were in there that was interesting (and easy). The Apple Pear Crumb Cake stood out so I decided to do that.

When I got home last night from work I went straight to bed. I was tired from the previous two days so I wanted to get some rest before acutally having to take on the task. Plus I had to go to the grocery store to get a few items when I got up so I wanted to be refreshed. I went to bed at 8:30pm. I woke up at 3am.

I was definitely refreshed then.

Good thing I live right at the Kroger and it's 24 hours because if it wasn't then I would have waited till about 7 to get up and get things moving. I went to the grocery store and picked up the items I needed. Then I started with the baking. Instruction number 1 says, place aluminum foil across pan...

Great. Now I need to go buy aluminum foil.

So I had to go back to the store and get a roll of aluminum foil. I got a roll big enough so it can last for a while. I start back into the baking process. Peel and dice fruit. I am looking for the pears so I can cut them and I can't find them. WHY ME??? Somewhere between the store and home I am missing two pears. Forget that I am not going back to the store and it's already 4am. So I used 2 granny smith apples instead. This ended up being the Apple Crumb cake which was cool because I had never made either one before. After mixing the ingredients and cutting up apples, I placed the mixture in the oven to bake. After 30 minutes I took it out so that I could add the crumb topping on top. This baked for 25 minutes more. At 6:00am I was finished. I pulled the cake out of the oven so it could cool. Meanwhile I went upstairs and got back in the bed.

At 8am, Symoan woke me up asking if I could drop her off at work cause her car still wasn't acting right. So much for getting a longer nap. So I took her to work, came back about 15 minutes later and sprinkled the top of the cake with confectioner's sugar. I wrapped it back up and attempted to get another nap. Of course this did not work out before the 9:00 hour because I know my phone rang at least 15 times (most of the calls being Symoan). I got up and got dressed for work, with Symoan calling AGAIN before 9:30. This time to pick her up from work because she did get in contact with the auto shop and they were going to fix her car today. GLORY!!! This might not stop her calling so much in the morning but that sure will cut down on the excessive driving I had to do this week. Not complaining cause I might need the same favor you know? So I go pick her up, bring her back to the apartment and she gets her car. I then go back in the house, get the apple crumb cake, and it's off to work for me.

I get to work on time at 10:30am. The potluck started at 11:30am. The cake was an instant hit among the co-workers. My supervisor said she was hoping I was going to bake a cake because last year at the Christmas party I baked an double peanut butter pound cake. Luckily no one was allergic to peanut or peanut products (cause I sure didn't think about that till AFTER I brought the cake to the office). That cake didn't last half the day the way they been gobbling it up.

Besides the cake, we also had baked spagetti (with ground turkey meat), fruit and veggie tray, peach cobbler, spinach dip, garlic bread, sodas, and strawberry-lemonade-soaring strawberry lemonade Koolaid (that is three types of koolaid yall). That koolaid was on the money. As I'm typing right now I am sipping on some koolaid!!!

As I would guess, Symoan called this afternoon asking was there any cake left. WOW!!! I told her I would make one for the house on Sunday since that is the one day I have that I can really spend time in the kitchen. She is happy with that but is still hoping if there is even a smidget of cake left by the end of the night, I will bring it home. *laughs*. Lawd,imagine my dear cousin sitting on the outside of the apartment waiting for the apple crumb cake...LMAO!!! Let me stop. The day is good so far, and hopefully it will continue into the rest of the evening.

Midnight Drive to Georgia

My friend LaToya is an aspiring artist. 2008 has been a great but difficult year for her as far as the art shows are concerned. For the first time, LaToya has been selected as one of the many artist in South Carolina to participate in a traveling art show called "The Connections: Showing the Connections between South Carolina and Barbados". The show started in Anderson, SC and traveled to 5 other SC cities. Now the final showing is in Barbados, and at present, LaToya is flying high with American Airlines.

However...this trip was not easy.

First off, the organizer of The Connections did not think in the best interest of the artist as far as traveling arrangements. Being that all the artist are from South Carolina, one would think they would pick a airline for a group rate where everyone could meet centrally.

Nope.

Or even state in writing that you can make reservations with the airline of your choice, however we will be booking our group flight through XYZ Airlines.

Nope.

Instead, the organization decides to book the flight from Atlanta-Hartsfield.

Now, nothing is wrong with Atlanta, however for LaToya, Atlanta is 5 hours away. It didn't make any sense to me for her to have to drive or ride way down there to catch a flight going to Barbados.

Initially, the organization booked the flights through Air Jamaica (that's what they said) and the closest airline was Atlanta. They wanted to book a non-stop flight. The ticket price was $700. From the rip I was like "Toya, you might want to shop around and get your own flight there and meet the group." but she was dead set in flying with the other artist. I'm not going make an argument out of that, you know? So here it is, she's scrapping up all this money so she can make sure she gets this ticket for Air Jamaica. She gets in contact with the organizer one week before the trip who emails her directions as to how to print her e-ticket. When she gets the instructions, it says go to www.aa.com and follow the instructions. The e-ticket comes up with all the information needed for flight but the airline that she would be flying on is American Airlines. And... the ticket ends up being $200 cheaper.

Okay, so Toya's puzzled about the Air Jamaica/American Airlines thing. Bump that, I want to know if she gotta fly American Airlines why she gotta come all the way to Atlanta? A few months ago, I looked up the same exact flight with the same exact itinerary through Hotwire.com. There was a flight on American Airlines that cost $465 round trip including taxes and fees, flying from Charlotte to Miami, with a layover in Miami and then final stop in Barbados. At least Charlotte would have been closer since Shalanda (another one of our friends) and I were going to be the ones driving from Columbia (she drove her car up to Columbia and parked it at my apartment) to the airport. Save money and gas, not only for us but for her too!!!

Not only did Toya find out this piece of info, she also finds out her cousin (who lives in DC and decides to meet her there on the trip on her own flight) is flying out on American Airlines with a layover in Miami. They both end up on the final flight, sitting about two seats from each other.

Crazy, I say!!!

Being that most of the cost damage was already done, Shalanda, Toya, and I got in the car and rode down from Columbia to Atlanta, leaving a little after midnight (we really left Columbia at 1am). I had to make a pit stop in Thomson (exit 172) cause my stomach starting acting crazy while we were on the interstate. That delayed us for a little bit. We got to the airport at 4:30am, making sure Toya had everything needed for the 5 day retreat. I drove going to Atlanta and Shalanda took the wheel coming back to South Carolina.

All this and I am at work now. Wow...

I hope Toya has fun down there, and I REALLY hope someone buys her work down there. The girl can put it down on the hand made quilts and fabric collages. If you want to see more of her work, you can go to http://www.myspace.com/artisticvision06 . My other blog features her as a member of the motorcycle/social club community doing great things. You can read this at http://www.thescoopbydiamondstar.blogspot.com .

The Apple Bottom Cake

As promised, I am going to tell you all the results of the apple bottom cake I baked this weekend.

This cake is definitely a winner!!!

Fellow blogger Kween (aka Kiwi, Keys, Kali) published the recipe on her blog "Da Kween Can Burn" last week. The ingredients were simple to buy, and I wanted to see if this would be a cake that I would bake this year for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks to my cousin Symoan, who also was the taste tester for this cake, she gave it two thumbs up. Matter of fact she ate half of the cake. Seriously. Symoan carried on and on about how it was the best cake she ever had so far. I could barely get it out of the oven when she had the cake knife in hand ready to slice it. I'm like "could you at least let it cool down some?" Wow...

This is a great dessert to have with a touch of vanilla ice cream on top. Yummy!!!

Here is the recipe for those of you who are interested and want to try something different:

Apple Bottom Cake (so easy)


~1 box of yellow cake mix (and all its ingredients)
~3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled & shredded
~light brown sugar
~a stick of butter (whole stick not needed)
~cinnamon (optional)

Glaze:
~2 cups of confectioner's sugar
~about 2-3 tbsp of milk
~ dash of vanilla

After mixing cake mix and shredding apples, prepare the bottom of pan (you can use anon-stick bundt or mini muffins or small individual cake pans) by using stick to generously butter bottom

Sprinkle an even coat of light brown sugar over butter and then an even layer of the shredded apple and sprinkle cinnamon. Pour cake mix on top and bake til golden brown. (Time varies depending on pan...see back of box for times)

Let cool and once removed from pan...flip and glaze!

If any of you do decide to try this, please let me know you thoughts.

For cooking tips, recipes, and more, visit Kween's page at http://www.kweencanburn.blogspot.com

Friday is for Wings

I love chicken wings. Everytime I go out to a bike club event, I go straight to the food table to check out the wings. No lie! Not trying to be greedy or anything but I love chicken wings, especially drummettes.

However sometimes when ordering from a particular restaurant you don't have the option of ordering just drummettes or just flaps. This particular restaurant called Wing Zone sells your choice of bone-in or boneless wings. I usually order the boneless wings from here because their bone-in wings sometimes appear to be overfried.

This Friday I had planned not to order out. I wanted to cut down on my spending and eat some home cooked food. Last night my cousin cooked some steak, rice, peas and corn. I brought some rice and steak with me to work (what was left of it cause I didn't not get to eat any after it was done). This was going to be my meal for the day at work.

The steak and rice didn't work out too well. While the rice was ok, the steak (to me) was hard. There are all different types of steak and whereas I really don't know which kind it was, I know it was tough to my liking. I didn't even eat all the food. I was left sitting here wondering what am I going to eat because I was getting hungry. Chic Fila was out, Subway was out, Duck-In was out. There are not too many places in the area I work to get food. The only thing left to get was wings and I had to drive to get those. This was the only thing that really appealed to me.

So...I ordered the boneless wings.

I don't regret doing so cause they were so good. But I am planning out my grocery list so that I can have more of a variety of foods to take to work with me. More water, salad bags, fruits. I think I am going to try one of my recipes that I printed from yahoo foods. I am definitely going to try to bake an apple bottom cake this weekend that my friend Kiwi passed on on her blog site (and if you need some tips on cooking, sharing receipes, tips or more, check out her blog spot at http://www.kweencanburn.blogspot.com/).

I will let you know how things turn out.

Give Me The Green Light

This is how I'm feeling. I'm ready to go right now!!!LOL!!!

Setting Your Goals In Motion

We all have goals that we want to accomplish. Some will take longer than others. Still, when we accomplish those goals we get this great feeling. Sometimes the feeling can't be explained, but it is like a rush that we have made it to the top.

I have a friend who is aiming to fulfill her goals to become a certified art teacher and an accomplished artist. Since graduating from college in 2004, my friend has taught school on a conditional certified level in the Allendale School District, pending that she pass the Praxis II exam. The Praxis II is a an exam that most prospective teachers take in order to receive certification. Each state has different requirements and some states may not require this exam at all. In South Carolina, this test is required.

My friend has tried to pass this test several times and has missed it by as little as 1 point. Since working in Allendale, she has worked in the Florence County School District as a Therapeutic Behavorial Specialist and in the Williamsburg County School District as an art teacher (non-certified. She was being paid as a permanent substitute teacher) . Currently she is still with the Williamsburg County School District, but as a Therapeutic Behavioral Specialist. She says at times while she does enjoy the work, she really wants to pursue her teaching career in art. She is also looking into art therapy, a field that is growing, however the courses and certifications for this career is scarce in some regions.

I am hoping at the next testing (which is in January), she passes this test. I have never taken the Praxis so I do not know what it is like to try to get a passing score. I am sure that it could be really frustrating to get a score of lets say 144, when the passing score to become certified is 145.

When you have a set goal in mind, you have to really put it in motion. That means doing whatever you have to do to stay focus. Yes it is easy to say and sometimes harder to do. There are going to be many obstacles which may hinder you from achieving your goals, but you don't let the obstacles stop you completely. This is when you get up, brush off the dust and continue marching on to the top. Once you are there, you will feel great and refreshed. You will be the ultimate winner. It does not matter how many times it take you to reach that goal. What matters is that you were determined to get there and you got it.

Whatever your goals are, aim for the best. Don't let negativity discourage you from doing what you really want to do. "Doing you" is what matters the most.

Tuesday Morning

So it's Tuesday morning and I am off to my sister's house at 7am to finish washing and drying my clothes that was supposed to be taken care of yesterday. This time of morning is usually good because the kids are getting ready to go off to school and while I am waiting on my clothes to dry, I can get on the internet and check my emails as well as all the networking sites that I am on.

Not even 5 minutes pass by and my neice Asya says to me, "Do you want to take me to school today?"

Do I want to take you to school? No I don't want to take you to school. That is what the bus is for. Of course I am thinking this in my head so I ask, "So why should I take you to school? May it be because your hair is not finished?"

"Yes," she replied. "And the bus comes at 7:30 and I won't be ready by then."

Well I'll be. See, if my clothes were finished yesterday we wouldn't be having this conversation today. So I said to her, "Yes but make this your last request. Need to get up a little bit earlier to do what you need to do.

Meanwhile, Chelsea, one of my neice and nephews friends who stayed over last night ask, "Ms. Keisha, could I ask you a favor?"

I'm thinking: Great. Here goes my Tuesday morning.

"Could you drop me off at school too?" she continued.

What is this, drop the kids off at school day? First off how in the crap Chelsea got there in the first place and where is her momma? She goes to school in Irmo which is about 5 minutes away from where my sister lives. My sister's kids are zoned for Columbia High, which is less than 2 minutes around the corner, boom bam, that's it.

I agree to take Chelsea to school too, warning her (and the rest of them) this was their last ride?

Not wanting to be mean to the teenie boppers, but hey, you got to get up and be responsible, adjust your time if you need to and get it right. Today teenagers get privledges that we ourselves growing up never had. I am from the country, and where I am from there was no ride to school but the school bus, so we had to get up and get to the road and stand out there and wait for the bus to arrive. Let us still be standing out there and the bus not there..our mom's would be calling the school trying to find out if the bus broke down or something, anything before actually getting into her car and driving you to school. If we were being driven to school, it was because one of us had to be signed back in cause of a suspension and believe me when I say that wasn't going to happen to often. Good thing I never had to have a ride to school for that.

Meanwhile, back in my day (and I am not that old) your momma got up when you got up to make sure you were going to school. Yeah, they got to be responsible but they are still kids who could try you on the sly. Ha!

After all of the ripping and running I did this morning I still did not get all of my laundry done, which means more work to do when I go back over there this afternoon. However if I have to work my other job, then that will mean that it will get delayed again till tomorrow. *Sigh*.

A Little Too Direct For Some

I just had my midterm review today for my job. Overall it turned out to be ok, however according to management there are some minor things I need to work out.

From my report that I received today, it states that even though I handle the job in an efficient and timely manner, I need to work on being more customer friendly.

Hold on...I thought I was customer friendly.

From a coaching point of view, the customer wants to hear you smile (since we are talking about a customer service job at a call center, you know customers don't actually see you so you have to present yourself in a pleasant tone). Basically the report is saying I am not rude to the customer. I give them what they want, but I need to put a little more spark in the conversations.

Hear what I am saying.

I am sure, as well as any other person who has to call a bank, cell phone company, that a person don't mind pleasantness but they sure don't want you to be overly perky when you answer the phone. Now THAT is annoying. I try my best at that. Maybe it's not coming through correctly. Maybe I am being too direct (or they may think I am too direct). Some folks don't know how to take someone who pretty much answers their question after doing research.

Sometimes you have customers that as much as you try to be friendly to them and try to assist them, it seems as though they are not getting it. You are trying to be calm and collective without having to go off on them(these things happen sometimes). The good ol mute button always help out during these trying times. Sure the customer got to vent but by the end of the day the customer service rep got to vent too because of all the crap they have to listen to day in and day out.

Since this was my first midterm review, I didn't really know what to expect. However I do know how I set my own standards. I have this thing about anything less than an A will not do. This means I got to have higher than 94% to meet the average. This is something I go by. Even though the midterm was not graded as such, I felt that it was less than 94% and I needed to know why right then and there.

I know there are ways that I can do better. I can take a refresher course all day long but would it mean something to me? It's one thing that you already know what you need to do. You just need to do it.

The other thing I think that would REALLY help in any workforce is building up team spirit and morale. If it is not there, you are not going to get outstanding customer service. If you are not interacting with your co-workers and finding out what works then and what doesn't, then how do you expect for morale to pick up? You know maybe this is something that I may have to start up myself. I used to do things at the convenient store I used to work at. Every now and then I would bake a cake and bring it to the store for all the employees and if there was some left over then give a slice to those special customers. There were times when we would plan a mini potluck. It would be an impromptu thing, you know like some nachos and dip, something to drink. There was also a time where I made mini gift bags and passed them out. Each of us at the convenient store did something to keep the morale up. It really makes a difference in the workforce.

This being said (cause I really needed to vent today) I am going to pray, meditate and work on being better at my job, Even though I have been in the customer service field for 6 years, there is always room to grow and expand. I started off being aggravated about the whole thing but now I am a whole lot better.

The Dream You Wish Would Come True

I got random thoughts today, and this time it's taking me to a paradise I hope to achieve. I woke up this morning thinking how it would be so nice to acutally wake up day after day at home and not have to get up and go to work! I mean, yeah you got some people who acutally do that right now and they aren't working because they don't want to. They just want to depend on others to do for them. What I'm talking about is after hitting that jackpot: it could be the lottery or being a achieved writer, that all you have to do is get up and breathe in fresh air, thank God for all the things that you have been through and thank Him for his wonderful blessings.

Wouldn't it be great to acutally get up and do things that needed to be done and have time to do them? Like thoroughly cleaning the house, decorating, attend social events that only can be attended to by day, spend some time volunteering, acutally being able to attend my neice or nephew's school activities without having to run out the office to catch the event late? This of course comes after all the monthly bills are paid and money is set aside for a rainy day (cause you gotta have your emergency stash, I don't care how rich you are supposed to be).

Being able to achieve these things are possible, but best believe you will go through some trials and tribulations before it all comes to light. When that light comes you will be rewarded greatly. Some people don't believe this but I can testifiy to going through many trials and tribulations. Success last when it comes to you at a slow but moderate pace. Everything cannot be rushed.

Until then I am going to continue to be the hard worker that I am. I am certain that great benefits will follow in the future.

Here we go again...

I just logged on blogger for today and one of my blogs is "locked". I had to request a review so they will know that I am not a spammer. This is the second time I had to go through this. The first time this happened it took FOREVER to get a response or to get my blog unlocked, so I deleted the entire account. Now I have created a new account, trying to write blogs daily (or every other day) and my blog "The Scoop By Diamond~Star" is now blocked. That aggravates me to some extent. I hope that this is resolved real soon because I would hate to move all of my blogs somewhere else. I know blogger is doing this for security reasons, but come on. You should really know what blogs are "spam" and which are not.

Drama at "Da Plant"

I have a temporary job at a manufacturing facility in the Columbia, SC. I am no stranger to "plant" work, as I worked at Tupperware Manufacturing for 2 years back in my hometown of Hemingway, SC. What amazes me is no matter what type of product the company is making, the scene is always the same: "Drama at the Plant".

Last night, one of the workers went in the breakroom to call her boyfriend. We will call her Tasha It's not like I had been trying to hear her conversation. She was talking low, but loud enough for anyone near her to hear. She was talking about how people were always in her business and that they need to mind their m**** f****** business. Her boyfriend must have asked her a question, cause she replied, " Yeah she tried to come up and start a conversation with me but I was real short with her, you know what I am saying, like I wasn't feeling it." I was sitting here thinking "Oh boy, here comes the soap operas at night. Please don't have nothing popping off in here for everybody to talk about both of yall."

Two hours later the line that I was working on was relieved to go on lunch break. Tasha was back in the breakroom talkingwith another worker. Just then another lady comes at sit at the table that I am at (We will call her Shenika). She happens to work on the line with me. So Shenika is talking about her new house, how her and her boyfriend were doing good and that they were saving up to get some additional items for the house. Then she starts talking about there are haters everywhere. OKAY... I have already caught on to the fact that she and Tasha were the ones having issues with each other. So Shenika starts talking about how you try to help people and they give you their ass to kiss, then speaks in a low tone about how she told Tasha the floor supervisor was pissed off at her the other night for taking a long lunch break. She says Tasha got mad and was like people need to stay out of her m****f***** businesses. "Now she is going around talking trash, when she doesn't realize that everything that is said people come back and tell me." Mind you, Tasha is sitting right in front of us at another table. All I could say is "Please don't do this right now. Nobody trying to break up a fight at 3:00 in the morning." So I simply told Shenika, "Sometimes, it just pays to be by yourself. No one should come into a work force for friends. Sure you may gain some associates in the process. I just find it better to just come to work, do what you are supposed to do and go home." Shenika agreed with that, but I know she was doing all that to see if Tasha was going to get riled up and pop off on her. Meanwhile Tasha is up front and she is talking to the same co worker she sat in the breakroom with, and I could tell she was talking trash about Shenika to him. Such a pity.

My thing is, if your business is all out in the open, it is bound to be spread. The story line seem to be the same. Someone is hating on another person because they dress nice, hair is always done, or simply because they chose not to hang with the popular crowd at the job. There is nothing wrong with having general conversations on the job, like talking about the latest movie or tv show. However I believe your personal business is just that: personal. That should stay between you and your homegirl, homeboy, significant other, especially when you are talking about relationships. Some people may not be able to take your joy and happiness the same way as you do. When people broadcast their business like that it's either going to gain you popularity or hateration.

Personally I tend to stay to myself until I can get the feel of the envirornment. I know for fact these people may not be the type I can share secrets with ( I don't have any so it don't even matter). Yet if I can work with them and can carry on a general conversation, that's all that matters to me. There are other things that I focus on in life that have higher priorites than the drama on the plant floor. I am here for the paycheck. Next.

Hopefully there will not be any drama tonight.