…ummm, damn, that’s all I got, lol. Yall don’t have as many names as Detroit.

OH, speaking of Detroit–

 

So, I totally forgot to include Raheem Devaughn and Dr. Ian Smith in my highlights for Detroit. Oops! You can view them now if you click the link.

 

Anyways……I was asked to go to Houston for a work assignment. It sounded like a great opportunity, so I jumped at the chance. Ended up being a headache - my manager gave me half-ass information and left me hangin’. Being the strong, capable person that I am, I managed to pull it altogether and deliver in a major way. Yay me.

 
But the person who REALLY delivered and saved my trip was Tex in the City. She was the ULTIMATE host, and gave me the best Houston experience one could ask for. Let me tell yall, if you wanna know about Houston…where ta go, what to do…Tex knows it ALL! We had some great food and some great times, and she is the main reason I’m going back. Tex is a sweetheart, and just a wonderful person to be around. She’s got the biggest heart!! (sometimes I think she’s just too good for me) Sorry, had a Sade moment, lol. But Tex is like my sister from another mother, and I can’t wait to visit again! There’s so much more fun to be had!

I think the most memorable ummm memory was going to the Saltgrass Steakhouse to eat dinner. Chile……when Tex mentioned that we were going to “Saltgrass”, I just knew she was taking me to some green, healthy, foliage-friendly place that serves wheatgrass appetizers, and sprout salad entrees. I’m thinkin, “I know I’m a vegetarian and all, but I don’t eat that shit. PLEASE don’t take me there!” Is it wrong that I was thrilled when I saw it was a Steakhouse? LOL

We were served by an adorable waiter (what was he, 22?) who was originally from Brooklyn, and was steadily gettin’ his flirt on wit ya girl. Tee hee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I decided to let my eyes wander around the restaurant, as I hadn’t seen more than the waiter, and I looked up from the table to see a giant buffalo head looking down upon me as I ate my bread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have Mercy.

Scared the shit outta me.

 
Then I turned around, and saw an equally large Longhorn watching over myself and Tex. I’d later learn that everything is large in Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Tex would say……

Welcome to Texas!

 

 

Ok, so let me tell you why I can’t live in Houston.

 

1. THE HEAT! Oh my goodness, it was SO DAMN HOT! I mean, it gets hot and humid in NY, but the heat in Houston was different. That mess was straight off the sun. Just blazin!

   And then to counteract the heat, every building and car has their A/C on FULL blast. So in a matter of seconds you go from 100 degrees, to 50 degrees. Damn, can I get 72? Do I hear 72??? I’m still a tropical person, ya know.

    
   Ok, this next one is two-fold. Its a gift and a curse.

2. The FOOD. OMG, there were SO many restaurants, drive-thru’s, and take-outs in Houston…and they weren’t all chains and commercial franchises. Lots of local cuisines to take part of as well. I mean LOTS! Just lined up and down the streets. Everywhere you turn. Yall don’t understand, there was an unlimited supply of edibles throughout the city. No one should be hungry in Houston. NO ONE!

   And the portions…THE PORTIONS!

   Let me tell yall, I like food, ok. I love to eat. I couldn’t tell you the last time I took a doggie bag home from a restaurant. I did it twice in 2 days while visiting Houston. I mean, they pile it ON!

    
   So, yeah, while I love food and love eating, I couldn’t live in Houston, because I’d be a straight heifer! Dear God.

    

3. The strip malls! Strip malls with eateries galore. Geez, I’ve never seen so many. Seriously! Shops, upon shops, upon shops, upon shops. And good ones too! Just readily available for all to enjoy. Too many opportunities to spend my money. How can one resist such temptation??

    

4. Man, Houston is so spread out! I think I’ve been in NYC too long. Everything is so close together here, I wasn’t used to all the traveling we had to do. Hmmm, I wonder if I could re-adjust to living in the Greater L.A. area? But at least the gas is cheaper in Houston - I saw it as low as $3.69!! Heavens!

    
   And the last reason I couldn’t live in Houston (besides it not being on a coast)…

5. It was brought to my attention that there are NO 7-Elevens in Houston. NONE!

   (I feel like singing a verse from An American Tail - “cuz there are noooo cats in America…”)

   *ahem*

   Anyway, the closest one is in Austin. I gotta drive to Austin for a slurpee? Yeah, not gonna work for me.

 

 

So all in all……Houston was cool (not literally), with some cool inhabitants. I see why people dig it. But erra ummm……

 

 

 

How yall expect me to beat the heat with NO SLURPEES???

 

 

 

5 comments

 

Ever read something you wrote and go, “DAMN! That was a good ass post. Whoever reads this suuureee is lucky!”

 

Yeah, me too. But this post isn’t one of ‘em.

 
So I talked a bit about my tendency to self-sabotage…uhh…myself. Its a sick & twisted cycle, because my predictions of self-sabotage are actually a secondary form of self-sabotage as I convince myself that I’ve dun it once again, when in fact……I may have not sabotaged myself at all.

 

wha?

 

I know.

 
So anyway, I did some cleaning, dusting, organizing, and disposing on Saturday. Ya know, straightening up the living space is unbelievably therapeutic. I fell in love with my apartment, my couch, my room, and mySELF all over again. I even did a lil decorating. I felt more at home and more at ease.

 
With all those positive endorphins running through me, I wasn’t as anxious about me screwing up my own happiness……again. Come game time, I just contacted my friend to see if they were still coming over to watch, and that was all there was to it. And……………………

 
……………………they WEREN’T!

 
Just as predicted.

 
But it wasn’t for the reasons I thought. At least, thats not what they implied (but who knows). No no no, stop it! Whatever reason they gave me, I’ll take it! Had NOTHING to do with me and my big mouth.

They even apologized for backing out. I felt ok about things.

 
Then I remembered that not much earlier in the day, I had backed out of something with someone that I really didn’t wanna be around. But I didn’t blame it on them either.

 

 

*sigh*

 

 

Its the circle of life. And it moves us allllll

 

 

 

This is SHESOPINIONATED.com,
and everyone is entitled to my opinion.

 

 

 

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……from across the room. He was talking to someone else, but I knew he’d been waiting all night to talk to me.

 

He was surprised and looked back at me with a furrowed brow, questioning whether it was really him who I was smiling at. I didn’t break eye contact, and prodded him with my best come hither look. He responded with a grin of his own; like he couldn’t believe that I was so obviously baiting him.

 
It didn’t take long to lure him over.

 
That was easier than I thought.

 

 

 

This is SHESOPINIONATED.com,
and everyone is entitled to my opinion.

 

 

 

12 comments

 

Das right, I’m rollin’ SO-LO.

 

A quick shout out to the solo’s! I feels yall. I really do.

 
Yeah, I’ve been going out lately by myself and wit myself. The shock & awe on peoples faces when they discover that I’m not with anybody or meeting anybody is……it’s getting to be a goal and a secret joy of mine.     I almost feel empowered in the moment.

 
I will say that on any given night, it can go either way. I might have a great time, or I might be bored and leave within the hour (though I usually try to stay for at least an hour to give things a chance to pick up). But more often than not, I end up making more moves when I go somewhere alone than I do when I’m attached at the hip to someone.

Makes sense, right? I figure people pity me, and reach out to me more, lol. Or maybe they admire my bravado and want to award and applaud.

So now I’m gettin’ used to just going at it alone, I’m more comfortable exploring by myself, and I’m fearless when presented with the opportunity.

 

what’s the deal with yall?

 

Do you roll solo? Would you roll solo? Have you ever tried? If not, what’s keeping you from doing so?

 
Is it different when a man rolls alone, versus when a woman does it?

 
When you’ve gone out, have you encountered
people who were out by themselves?
What did you think of them?

 

As with anything, you should always take safety precautions. Let someone know when and where you’re going; update them throughout the night if you can (when you get there, when you’re leaving, when you get home).

But its not so bad, and if there’s something you want to do and there’s no one around to do it with you……don’t be afraid to go at it alone (well, depending on what it is, I guess). But if its as simple as checking out a new lounge or a new gallery opening or something……JUST GO! Its been a great experience for me, so far.

(just make sure you get there early so you can get a seat or a good spot at the bar - standing around alone is kinda awkward, lol, especially without a drank in your hand!)

 

 

This is SHESOPINIONATED.com,
and everyone is entitled to my opinion.

 

 

 

5 comments

 

abandoned, desolate, forlorn;

broken, damaged, destroyed, harmed, hurt, impaired, injured, ruined, wrecked;

disregard, forget, ignore,
overlook, pass over, slight;

fail;

miss, omit;

brush aside, brush off, reject, shrug off;

disdain, scorn;

 

Just after I made my last post, I packed my bags and headed to California for what was supposed to be an 8 day visit, but turned into 10 days due to the weather in New York. Cool wit me! So glad I missed that storm, and in turn got to spend more time with my mom.

I could go on and on about my mom, our relationship, how it’s evolved over time, and how I treasure it now more than ever. She was SO happy that we had 2 more days together, it made me wanna cry. I know she misses me, but I didn’t know it was THAT bad. I miss you too Mommy! Especially considering……

 
……especially considering the fact that the (so-called) friends and loved ones that made up my inner circle are dropping like flies. In my last post, I stated that “with so many changes on the horizon, I wonder what things are gonna look like in 3 months”. Well, it took less than 3 days for things to completely turn inside out.

 
I learned of the ultimate betrayal that occurred between two people whom I’ve known for a long time and held in high regard, only to find out that they had no regard for me whatsoever. That hurt. Bad. Definitely the worst pain I’ve ever dealt with. And to top it off, I had to save face until I left L.A. and went to Northern California to visit my family.

 
Since I left Southern Cal, I’ve been pushing everyone away from me. Whether they know it or not, I’m not as secure in my friendships as I once was.

 
And while I was completely caught off-guard with the situation, at the same time……I’m not totally surprised. The way things have been going since the end of 2007, its been the purging of one bad apple after another. I now see that ridding myself of the other rotten fruit was in preparation for this unforeseen contamination in the ranks. It could’ve been worse. Yeah, a LOT worse. Luckily for them, I’d already built up a tougher barrier around myself and discarded most of my faith in people.

 
**************************************************************************************
 

I got back to NY 5 days ago, and I’ve spent that time moving on with things that actually matter in my life. Turns out, I didn’t have much of a choice, cuz when I went back to work on Tuesday, I found out that 32 of my co-workers had been laid off the day before.

whaaa?

Yeah, you read me right. That took me aback. And for whatever reason, my name wasn’t on the list. Why not? Yall know all I do is blog from work……what have I really contributed? Whatever it was, I guess it was either enough for them or they saw potential for me.

 
In addition to that, the job I interviewed for in a different department has been offered to me - with a pay raise. YEAH!! Awwwweeeeesooommme.

I took a couple days to think about it, and hear what our CIO had to say about the recent lay offs and the future of my current department. Now that I’ve heard it all, I’ve decided to take the new position and keep truckin.

 

So ya see, in 14 days my world has topsy-turvied; but at the end of the day, it was all in my best interest. Blessings all around. And thankfully, I don’t have the time or mental space to speculate or contemplate the deception, who dun what, and why. That shit was SO 2 weeks ago, and is SO 3000 miles away. They can deal with that mess, I got better things to do!

 

Peace.

 

 

This is SHESOPINIONATED.com,
and everyone is entitled to my opinion.

 

 

 

P.S. Bloggie, my bad for doing to you what they done to me.

 

 

 

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