I'm Trying Not to Cry

People are in shock, and are denying the claim (by LA Times and TMZ) that Michael Jackson has died. I'm just trying not to cry.

I was raised on this man, and he is officially a family member of mine. I claim him. As a child, I remember his groundbreaking performance of "Billie Jean" on the "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" television special (first broadcast on NBC May 16, 1983) and how I couldn't believe my eyes..the glove, the hat, the moonwalk...

We went Michael-crazy. I had a doll, posters, buttons, tee shirts, sheet set..you name it. We'd argue with classmates over who was related to him locally and who was "his girlfriend."

I am truly saddened. Whatever is going on, I won't feel it until later. :(

Grill and Gridiron...but Not Tailgating

For some reason, I had it in my head that Father's Day was tomorrow. I saved a few extra bucks, jumped in the car and spent an hour in Lowe's getting tutored on the fine art of grill assembly. After having it hauled into the trunk of my car, I took another 45 minutes looking for the perfect set of grilling tools to accompany my bigger gift and a card that had a grill on it. I settled for a grill cover and a utensil caddy.

Driving home, I couldn't help but wonder how in the hell I would get it from my trunk, into the house, out the back door and assemble it while my husband slept --in the dark. I had no clue. I figured I'd have him haul it out after I gave him the 'hint' card, then assemble it for him. Not perfect, but it would work...he'd have the assembled grill to use on Father's Day.

Everything went as planned. We decided to go to my brother's football game at a local stadium and then sneak by my mom's to drop off my contribution ($) to my dad's huge father's day gift. When I got there, I had an argument with my cousin about Father's Day being on the 21st. Whatever. It's always, to my knowledge, been the second Sunday in June. I went home, settled in, and mom calls with a question...

...long story short, I'm a week early for Father's Day. :(

Can't Sleep

Its 4am and I'm still up. I think I need to stop with the Folger's after 1pm. Anyways, I stayed up watching a movie called "Seven Samurai"(七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai), a 1954 period drama about 16th c. Japanese Samurai who band together to protect a village of stupid peasants from bandits.

According to my DVR, the movie is three and a half hours long. I'll finish it tomorrow. It was in black and white, with subtitles. Both of which I don't mind at all. I speak a bit of Japanese. What annoyed me the most were the haircuts: bald on top, ponytail in the back. I know it was the style of the times, but it LOOKED SO STUPID. The outfits and grunting were cool though.

I think the best part so far was when the main character was recruiting samurai off the street for the mission. He'd call them inside a barn, telling a teenage boy to strike the samurai with a pole when he walked in.

"A true samurai would not be fazed. He'd defend himself immediately, or dodge the blow. It is a test"

Samurai #1: Dodged the blow, grabbing the boy by the arms and flamming him on the floor :)


Samurai #2: Got within six feet of the door, smiled, then replied, "Surely, you jest". :))


Samurai #3: Walks in the door and gets whacked on the head. :D

There were plenty of good scenes, although the subtitles were moving way too fast to read. Characters were well developed, and there was a lot of beautiful scenery. I'd recommend it on a slow Sunday afternoon or a late night.

All the while, I was tweeting about how boy shorts were not made for black women, ciroc in a Sonic cherry limeade, and Kobe Bryant's gum chewing.

Good stuff, those late nights ;)

I'm gonna make another attempt at sleep now. I don't have any plans for tomorrow, so I don't know why I'm pushing it.

Anyways, good night.