Freeway of Love

Salutations.

I write to you from the comfort of my dorm room. A room that’s bigger than my own room at home, but somehow manages to still feel like a jail cell with the terrible paint color chosen for the walls, carpet thinner than a deer’s blood, and furniture – and I use that term loosely – stolen from the Rooms To Go donation box. Although I will say the desk I have is fairly new. Of course it wasn’t purchased right off the showroom floor, but rather the “buy one get one” half off rack. But that’s neither here nor there.

Last time I was here was at the beginning of the summer, and it has been quite an eventful summer, for me at least. I flew home in the middle of May for my sister’s graduation from high school. My mom got a buddy pass, which forced me to dress in business casual attire for the flight (since when did airlines have a dress code?). So by the time I got home, I noticed that a lot had changed around the house. New doors were put in. New furniture. New appliances. New everything. My brother moved out, and somehow that justified my mom purchasing an oversized sectional and a 50” HD television for what was once his room. Now there are two dens at home. The other den has a 40” plasma screen TV, a coffee table, and a leather couch. I’m not sure why that room even exists anymore because nobody goes in there. Family from out of state came for the graduation. I won’t address how some of them snored to the point where I thought our home was being bulldozed in the middle of the night, but I love my family. The speaker at the graduation asked the audience to hold their applause until after all the names had been called. Obviously they didn’t see the barrage of Negroes in the audience. You know how colored people are when their children accomplishes something. We have to make our presence known in the audience. And for some reason, we feel like the child’s accomplishment is OUR accomplishment too. Whether if it means cheering excessively or acting like bats on acid, we will make sure we celebrate. But oddly enough, the Negroes weren’t as bad as some of the White folks. Some of those White people had party streamers, silly string, marching bands, and acrobats for their children. Okay, maybe not the last two, but you get what I mean. But overall, we enjoyed the benefits of a White organized event – coordination, organization, punctuality, refreshments, and ample parking.

The following month, June, I drove back up to DC to get the rest of my clothes I had left behind out of the house I was living in. The drive was normal, done it a few times. It only took me about 10 hours, although the GPS said it would take 11 or 12. Like usual, I made my first stop at Jack in the Box in South Carolina exit 48B. Come to find out that location had closed, so I went to the next one at exit 54. Got my 4 tacos, a Breakfast Jack, and a medium strawberry Fanta with light ice and two straws. The drive was fine. I sang my heart OUT to nearly every song on my iPod. Everything was dandy until I got to Richmond. [sigh] There was traffic. I assumed it was normal traffic because it was around 4 PM when I was passing through. That’s when I realized the IQ of the city. I’m not sure who told the highway commissioner that it would be a good idea to do roadwork on the main freeway at 4 PM on a Friday and close two left lanes. It took an hour just to get into downtown. Then it took another hour just to get through downtown and out the city. On the drive back home, I made sure I littered on the freeway for Friday’s inconvenience.

July was just a bunch of nothing. It was hot. That’s about it. August things were pretty much the same. It was almost time to take my sister to school. She got accepted to college in Michigan. So we decided to drive up there. The last weekend in August we packed our things and headed up north. I drove because I was NOT about to sit in the car for 12 hours and be bored out of my mind. So I drove the whole way. We left in the morning, around 6:30 AM. There wasn’t much traffic, but driving up I-75 was amazing because there wasn’t a cop in sight. Then we got to Tennessee. It was nice going through the mountains, although I couldn’t enjoy them because you had to speeding to not get ran off the road. Honestly, the speed limit signs might as well just have a picture beam of light on it because you have to be going at least 80 to be relevant on the freeway. Even the trucks were speeding. I had to speed up because I was not about to be punched out the game by a ’92 Mercury Sable or a Geo Prism. Once again, not a cop in sight from Chattanooga to Nashville. Then we got to Indiana. I thought my friend was joking when she said there isn’t much to the state. Little did I know she wasn’t exaggerating by much. Indiana is flat, and full of a bunch of nothing. Cornfield after cornfield, and factory after factory is all I saw. I couldn’t wait to get to Michigan. But once again I was traveling down a boulevard of broken dreams. My sister’s school, and the surround area, are…like……like…if the characters on Family Guy were a college campus, my sister’s campus would be Meg. The most upscale hotel I saw was a Howard Johnson. The most upscale store I saw was The Gap. The most upscale restaurant I saw was Red Lobster. It’s the definition of basic. The city was just deathly boring and the whole city collectively is unneeded. But I’m glad my sister is in college. The drive home was 12 hours, and again I drove the whole way for the aforementioned reason.

So I’m back at Howard, and not much has changed. People still don’t know how to walk in the right side of the sidewalk. People still don’t know how to push in their chairs after leaving the table. And people still have the audacity to show up late to class and leave early. Although I will say that Howard, and the surrounding area are on the come up. Gentrification FTW. There’s a Potbelly across from Starbucks now. They even decorated the store with Howard paraphernalia. Property taxes and rising cost of living are doing the dirty work of getting the underprivileged Negroes out of the area. And it’s unfortunate, but I’m all for it. There have been so many Howard students that have been robbed (some at gunpoint) by people in the area, and that’s something we shouldn’t have to put up with. I’ve lived in the suburbs all my life, and we like to do stuff like walk to the store at 3 AM for ginger snaps, or garden on Saturdays. And now that more non-coons are moving in, the police actual come and patrol the area [happy face]. The projects are being renovated. The sidewalks and streets are repaved. And there’s people outside jogging. All the signs of gentrification in progress. But I have things to do, so I’ll keep you updated on the foolery.

My life at Howard University.

The Wheels On The Bus

Yes, I’m well aware that it’s been over a year since that last post. I’ve been busy. A LOT has happened. Well not really a lot, I just got lazy towards the end of the spring semester last year, plus I had a ridiculous amount of work to do. Was it because I procrastinated on my work? Not at all, procrastination is the politically correct term for a concept I like to call “Designated Time”. You see, when I get an assignment, I set aside a time for when I’m going to do it – at the last minute. Now, the last minute can mean the day before, up to three days before. Although three days is somewhat of a stretch because there are two days allotted to work in the assignment. I’m sure we all know most people do their best work at the last minute, so why not wait until the last minute? That, my friends, is designated time, a derivative of time management.

Well in the fall of last year, a crap load happened. I won’t get in to that, but let’s just say I have some of the best friends in the world. I have great parents who supported me all through the foolery. I also have to thank my idol, Bill Nye The Science Guy, for keeping my head level through the whole situation. With that said, the meat and potatoes….

[sighs] Another year of the annual homecoming festivities. Where should I begin? The girl who thought it was okay to walk around in public wearing an alligator print cat suit? Her partner in crime wearing a snake skin cat suit? The girl who thought it was okay to wear snow boots in the dead of fall? The gentlemen who spent their book voucher money on the latest Dada Supreme and Bugle Boy outfits? Whatever the case may be, with each year, Howard’s sense of fashion is mirroring the economic state of America – just getting worse and worse. Let’s get a few things straight:

I’m not here for cat suits.

I’m not here for girls who think it’s okay to have a two tone weave with unpressed hair.

I’m not here for the faculty and staff thinking it’s okay to “get their groove back” just because Frankie Beverly & Maze rubbed some Bengay on their knees and came out for a show. Howard can’t afford to have EMS on standby. And the streets are too crowded for Life Alert to hear your calls.

I’m not here for people living beyond their means wearing clothes they couldn’t afford even if it were on the wholesale rack.

And I’m DEFINITELY not here for boys thinking it’s okay to shop at Causal Male XL when their frame is similar to Gumby’s.

Oddly enough, there were more people at Yardfest (the free stuff) than last year. You would have thought Howard was giving out reparations. People came in their Easter Sunday best. But it’s not like half of them have been to church in months. Homecoming was the same foolery it is every year. So I won’t get into that too much. Homecoming will tell you who your real friends are.

Back to me, so I no longer live on campus. No more rules. No more visitation hours (as if ANYBODY adhered to them). No more running around the dorm having water fights. I’m on my own, in a way. Five days a week I take the bus and the train to and from campus. The morning commute is rather boring. Not much happens since it’s so early in the morning. The evening is when the nonsense happens. I take four different buses after class. I could take the train, but the common sense in me refuses to pay $6 to go from campus to home on the train. So I just take the bus. I always take my iPod so that I don’t have to worry about being bothered. But that doesn’t stop me from experiencing all the great people DC has to offer. Spending up to 2 hours on the bus, I’ve come to realize a lot of things about people who ride the bus. These are my findings:

1. People are not prepared. I really just don’t have time for stupid people. But I find it irritating when people get on the bus and don’t have their money ready. You should have had your transit card or cash, coins, iTunes gift card, etc ready to pay the fare. There’s no reason why you get on the bus and search through your bottomless carryon luggage some people call a purse. YOU KNEW 10 minutes ago you were getting on the bus. You should have taken care of that beforehand. Now, I can understand if you were running to make it, that’s justified. But when you’ve been standing at the bus stop for at least a minute watching the bus approach, there’s no justification. There’s nothing that irritates me more than when a bus stops at the corner, and the second the bus begins to pull off, the light changes and we have to stop.

2. People are loud. I was on the bus one afternoon and this woman found it necessary to talk to her cousin on the phone about an affair between a boyfriend and another person. How she’s not afraid to whoop her tail – mind you she was about 5 foot 4 115 pounds wearing Keds (ma’am, sit down). The high school kids get on the bus and act like a bunch of AHDA having children let loose in 10 acre McDonald’s play place. Then there are the people who get on with their iPods and are playing the music loudly, totally defeating the purpose of the headphones. I shouldn’t be listening to my music and then all of a sudden hear “…all you ladies pop your pussy like this…” Then there’s the middle to old aged men who get on and a civil conversation is almost like a shouting match considering the volume of their voices. I understand you’re trying to be heard, but I don’t think the people in Nebraska need to hear you.

3. People do not care. I can’t explain it, but a picture is worth a thousand words:

4. People over/under estimate. I’m slender person. I’m only about 5’7 135 pounds. Some people think that just because I’m small, and they’re big, that means the space in the seat will balance out. No. It will not. I’ve been through this a number of times. If anything, once the second and third layer of love handles settle into the seat, there will be hardly any breathing room for me. And I like to sit at the window. God forbid I need to reach into my pocket for something. 

5. People have issues. There’s always that one person on the bus or train who makes the ride uncomfortable for everyone else. This person is talking loud, appears to have a mental handicap, is pacing the bus, and basically preaching a Jehovah’s Witnesses “The Watch Tower” pamphlet. I’ve experienced a number of these. There was one night when somehow the Soulja Girl found her way to DC and was preaching at the Brookland Metro Station bus terminal. Her exact words were, “Your next boyfriend is going to rape your son.” She was quite loud. She was talking about some other nonsense. But the whole situation really called into the question the whereabouts of her straight jacket. There was another time at the same station when a man and a woman almost got into a battle. The woman was smoking around the man’s children and he asked her to stop. She must’ve found the proposal disrespectful because she started hollering like the ignorant coon that she was. She even threatened to fight the man with his children there. She would have lost anyway. 

But in any event, now that I have a lot more free time, I’ll be able to keep you updated on my daily travels and the foolery that I encounter on a weekly basis.

My life at Howard University.

FAFSA

FAFSA is the most beneficial aspect of college. Young chirrens like myself whose parents aren’t wealthy enough to pay for school out of pocket depend on federal aid to get us through the best four, five, or twenty years of school. Where would we middle class chirrens be without federal funding!?

In any event, usually in January I do my FAFSA. But lately, I’ve been taking the Howard Administration CPT approach. I’ve been doing it in parts, taking my time, setting it aside doing things that are less important, and doing it way when it’s convenient for me. So Saturday I log on to Howard’s website for no apparent reason, boredom clearly, and I see there’s a bulletin posted that FAFSAs are due by February 15^th. Now last time I checked, FAFSA forms are due until mid-June. Why is Howard trying to get slick and rush people into getting their FAFSAs in early when they know full well they won’t have them processed in time for the next school year? Last year, I did my FAFSA literally on January 2, 2009 for the Fall/Spring school year. So Fall comes around, tell me why I didn’t even get my aid dispersed until late October? No sir. Timex would not approve of such a wait.

Being that two of my friends are white collar con-artists by nature, I tried to find a loop hole so that I could file independent and get more money for school. But apparently they’ve already beat me to the punch. Then they tried to get smart with me:

See, if you try to lie, they catch you. The option basically says “Look child, we don’t have time for your foolishness and crime”. So naturally I picked the second option, and it led me to this page:

Now basically FAFSA gives you another chance to come clean. Basically the first option is saying, “Mmhmm, lying tramp, put your parent’s information on the FAFSA. Up there tryna lie”. At this point I had no choice but to put my parent’s information on the form. I was so unhappy because I need to file independent so I can get more money. Perhaps I could marry a foreign woman within the next handful of hours so that I can file independent…and then divorce her. Mrs. FAFSA put me right in my place, and I did not appreciate it.

Money, money, money, money…MONEY! With FAFSA many students are lucky enough to have more than enough money for school and get refund checks. Luckily, I was one of those students [does the tootsie roll]. Unlike many of the Howard students, I didn’t run over to Friendship Heights buying things I couldn’t afford on a normal basis. As always, I took my father’s advice to “take care of your business first, and then have fun”. I went down to the bookstore to buy my books once I got my refund check. I went upstairs to the second level looking for my criminal justice book. When I noticed that the book was $115 I did a

 

Followed by a

And finished it with a

I was not paying $100+ for a book. Then I went over and looked for my French book only for it to not be there as well. At which point, I was already a little uneasy about the events that had just transpired, so I just left. I got online and looked for my books and I found a few of them and ordered them. I’m sure they were much cheaper than the bookstore prices…as if that isn’t a surprise. I also took the time to head over to Ebay and bought some more Janet and Michael posters. So I did some research and learned that the 5th edition of the criminal justice book was word for word the same as the 6th edition and was only $30. In any event, the point of this whole thing is to know how to learn how to work your money to the best of your ability. Take care of what you need to take fare of first, and then have fun. Remember, work then play.

So lately the weather has been confusing DC with another place with all this snow we’ve been getting. A few days before the snow hit, I decided to head over to Safeways [yes that extra “S” is just to piss off certain people] to restock on food. And as always, I go in there getting a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t go in there for. It usually starts off with “ooh these are 2 for $5”. Then it becomes “well it’s only $3 that’s not much”. Finally it becomes “Ooh these are finally on sale, let me get these now”. And by the time I actually get around to what I went into the store, I’m like “oh heck naw, not for no $3.49. They done lost they mind”…followed by looks of disgust and confusion at the price of what I went into the store for. SMH. So it was around 7:30 when I went over to the meat section at the back of the store. After getting my meats, I decided to get in line. Little did I know once I turned around I was already in line. Yes kids, the lines were THAT long. Maybe I came at a bad time. Maybe people had just gotten paid and were shopping. Maybe it was December 24, 2012. Who knows? But get this. I put my basket down, walked from 18^th street to 14^th street to Target to look for something, walked back to the Safeway, only to realize the same people that were in line were STILL in line. And I’m like, what the…? So I just took the L and waited in line endlessly for the self-checkout. Took me quite some time, but I did it. And I’m STILL upset about DC government implementing this new law about charging a nickel for each plastic bag used. Supposedly it’s to clean up the Patomac River. We all know that’s BS. The Patomac has been dirty, and it will forever be dirty.

In the past week and some change, DC has gotten about 4 feet of snow. I remember waking up, looking out the window, and it looked like east Finland. It was just an unnecessary amount of snow. Now I wasn’t complaining when I realize classes had been canceled for the day. In addition to that, classes for me were canceled for an entire week, not to mention not having class the following monday. What more could a person ask for? So naturally my inner child just HAD to go play in the snow. The snow forced us to walk in the middle of the street because walking on the sidewalk was out of the question. So me and my friend walked in the center of Georgia ave for about 5 blocks without a car in sight. Indeed, Georgia Ave was DEAD on a saturday at 8:30 in the evening. I went out with a few friends to a friend of a friend’s place. Along the way, I couldn’t resist stage diving into mounds of snow. Yes kids, I had the time of my life. Don’t judge me. Of course I had to take pictures:

And believe it or not, there’s two cars buried under all that snow in the second picture. I was out around 3 am. I had to walk over 7-11 because I need another two liter of ginger ale, on top of the fact that I wanted an ice cream sandwich. Again, don’t judge me. I can’t stress that enough.

My life at Howard University.

Epic Fail

I’ve been gone doing my own thing for the past couple of months. Been very busy trying to get work done and manage to milk my way through this institution known as Howard University. In any event, to summarize the past couple of months of my experience, I’ll just pick up where I left off.

Howard Homecoming is a celebration of the football team’s continuous losing streak. Only sometimes it is used to give the players a sense of hope after having lost several games throughout the season. It is a time when students use their “emergency loans” to head over to Georgetown and pick up a new outfit. Girls head over to the salon to get a rent-a-weave. The guys find it necessary to purchase clothing far beyond their means of living they knowingly can’t afford on normal salary. I’m not sure who told some of them Avirex and Iceberg was still in style, but clearly this is not Hampton.

So like a typical person trying to get ahead in life, I only attended the free events that were offered during Homecoming week, Yardfest. Now Yardfest is basically an outdoor concert SUPPOSED to be for Howard students, their friends and/or family, and alumni. However the local residents view it as a “Negro Get Away for a Day” program and mosey their way onto campus as if they actually attend the school…and dare you to say something about it. But then again it’s not like campus security does anything ANYWAY [roll eyes]. So I went to the Yardfest which was aptly title “Rhythm Nation” so I was expecting some type of Janet Jackson tribute, and if I didn’t get one, I was going to raise hell and send Janet a letter telling her to sue Howard for copyright infringement. But lo and behold they knew better than to play with me.

Walking around the yard was fun…lots of girls in spandex so I couldn’t really complain. HOWEVER, there are just some people who refuse to comply with the weather.

Take note of how everyone around is dressed. Warm clothing, jackets, jeans, you know the typical apparel for fall. But as stated, some people refuse to conform.

And there must have been a sale on brown boots at Rack Room Shoes or wherever these girls shop for footwear...

Wearing shorts in 40 degree weather? Fail.

Compromising warmth to look cute in an outfit you know you’ll be returning the following Monday? Fail.

Trying to look cute in front of boys who don’t want you? Epic fail.

For everything else, there's success. This is not one of those times.

Epic fail. 

So moving on…I have the same three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays weekly. So with that said, you know how you learned in middle school that there’s no such thing as a dumb question? Whoever told you that lied. It was two weeks before Thanksgivings day (a Thursday), and I was in class and had to bear witness to this foolishness:

Professor: I know some of you aren’t coming to class on Tuesday because you’re going home for Thanksgiving…but you know you still have to turn in your work.

Student: If we’re not going to be here that Tuesday, can we turn it in next Thursday?

Professor: Yes...you can turn it in this coming Thursday.

Student: No next Thursday…

Epic fail.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays I only have one class. It is conveniently at 8:10 in the morning. So one day I really didn’t feel like going to class, so I planned to show up late so I wouldn’t have to sit through all 50 minutes of the class. So I left my room around 8:20 and got to class around 8:30. Upon my arrival to class I noticed the professor never showed up, and everyone was signing the role and leaving.

Epic fail.

On November 11^th, it was raining, and kind of cold. I got up at 7:30, got dressed, and did the whole nine, and left for class around 8 a.m. As I was walking, I was wondering why there wasn’t anyone on campus. I walked about two blocks before I realized it was a holiday and we didn’t have class.

Epic fail.

Then I tried to play it off like I was going to the Administration Building, only to get there and realize that was closed as well.

Fail...again.

So Thanksgiving finally came around, and my flight was literally on Thanksgiving day. So thinking that it’s the holiday and this is the Washington, DC airport, I figured that it would be very busy. So I decided that I should get there around 8 a.m. to check in and through security…you know just in case it was really busy. I get off the train and notice the airport is pretty much a ghost town. I look at the clock and it was around 8:00 a.m. I was 4 ½ hours early for my flight.

Epic fail.

I got to the airport expecting this. Instead I got this. So after about 3 ½ hours of waiting, I decided to go to the terminal and prepare to board. It was about 45 minutes before takeoff and I was wondering why no one was boarding. I was at the wrong gate.

Epic fail.

So I was at work one day during a Christmas rush helping a customer when I hear a soft “Oh shit!” followed by a loud noise come from the escalator. I walk over and notice an old woman had successfully fallen down the “up” escalator.

Epic fail.

It took me a few minutes to absorb the events that had just transpired. I knew laughing was out of the question. Not because it was an old woman, but because I was perplexed by how a woman had fallen down the escalator going up. Like, isn’t that a conflict of interest? I think I was more in shock than anyone. I assumed her dress had gotten caught in the side somehow. But that’s all assumption. And then when someone had finally gotten her off the escalator, she said she did not need medical attention. Ma’am, you are about six breaths from Judgment Day. You need to see a paramedic. So once I got off work, I was in the back gathering my things to leave and these two co-workers were discussing the incident. And one of them said, “you know that’s why I always hold on to the handrail when I’m on the escalator.” And I was thinking to myself, it’s not that serious. Just get on the escalator and stand still until you get to the top!

Epic fail.

To this day I am still dumbfounded on how that old woman managed to pull that off.

My life at Howard University.

Classroom Etiquette

There’s a class, I won’t, say the name of it, but this class reaffirms my position that Howard has some of the dumbest kids the US has to offer. You’d think after many years of being in school, you would have a grasp on classroom etiquette. However, these fools refuse to give in. So I just want to break down some of the rules of proper classroom etiquette and mannerisms.

1.    1. It’s nearly the end of the semester. You’ve been going to class for at least 2 and a half months. Why in the HELL is your phone still going on off in class? Why are you still forgetting to put your phone on vibrate when you enter class? Is it really that hard?

2.  Ladies, nappy horse hair weaves are not conducive to the learning environment. In fact, studies indicate that students are distracted by your nappy locks. There is no reason why your hair looks like a wet mop. If you’re having a bad hair day, wear a hat or some type of head scarf.

3.    3. Coming to class, signing the roll, and leaving minutes later does not constitute as ‘being in class’.

4.    4. Speaking of the roll, unless you’re sitting in the front or back of the row, pass the sign in sheet to the person IN FRONT of you. Not the person to your left. Not the person to your right. Not to the person in the Financial Aid office. To the person IN FRONT of you. It’s not that hard.

5.    5. When you see the roll coming around, have a working pen/pencil ready to sign the roll. Don’t get the roll and spend 10 minutes looking for a pen. You saw the sign in sheet coming.

6.    6. If you come late, do not come to class all loud; dragging the desk in front of class, cutting off the professor, letting the dorm slam. Just tacky. If you’re going be late, please be as quiet as possible when entering.

7.    7. Do not sit in the front and fall asleep. It makes you look like an idiot in front of the professor.

8.    8. How are you gonna come late and then fall asleep in class?

9.    9. If you’re going to be more than 30 minutes late for class, just don’t come; unless it’s Tuesday or Thursday. Freshman year this fool walked in to class at 9:58.

10. 10. Professors with sloppy handwriting is very irritating. It is not a sign of intelligence. I don’t care what people say.

11. 11. Professors with thick accent, you know damn well can’t nobody understand a word you are saying. Write what you’re saying on the board. It’ll save a lot of time.

12. 12. Professors, when half the class is sleep or doing other things, just dismiss class. You’re boring, and wasting people’s time.

13.  13. Please refrain from asking dumb questions in class. I will never forget the fall of 2008. After a quiz, the professor told everyone to pass up their quizzes. Ten minutes later some girl asks, “did you collect the quizzes?”

14. 14. If you’re in an auditorium classroom, don’t come in late expecting there to be seats in the front.

15. 15. How are you gonna come late, and then leave early? WTF was the point in you coming to class?

16. 16. Always agree with the consensus. If the class says push the test back to next week. Agree. Don’t say let’s have it now. You’ll end up on the back of a milk carton.

17.  17. Not coming to class because you didn’t do the assignment doesn’t give you an extension on the assignment. It’s still late whenever you turn it in.

18. 18. Please be aware of what you wearing when you come to class. A gentleman wearing a sleeveless bubble coat and a “Gucci” sun visor caused a massive disturbance in class one day.

That also includes stuff like this:

And this:

19. 19. Don’t be triflin’. Clean up the four course meal you had once class is over.

20. 20. Last, but not least, try your best not to be loud and wrong. I cannot stress that enough. I will laugh uncontrollably.   

My life at Howard University.

When Will You People Learn?

Howard has to have some of the most socially illiterate people I have ever come across. The past two days have been....well I can't put it to words, so I'll just use emoticons. The past two days have been like this , this , and this .


So Tuesday morning, I usually wake up a little after 10, usually 10:15, no later than 10:30 since I have class at 11. So I wake up to the workers doing construction.. So the sun is up and it's sunny. So you know I'm thinking it's about 10, 10:15. I look at my phone. It's 7:42. WTF??? Who in the hell commissioned DC construction workers to begin working so early!? And they weren't doing anything average like fixing a broken sewer pipe. With the noise they were making, you'd think they were erecting a skyscraper. I look out my window to see this:

Pounding the pavement and drilling holes in the ground. Like seriously??? Really??? It didn't cross their minds that people would be, oh I don't know, sleep??? What you're doing at 7:42, I'm sure you can do at 10 or 11. And the vibrations were ricocheting all throughout my room. My bed was like moving like one of those vibrating beds at a run down Vegas motel. They were relatively loud. I couldn't even watch my Step By Step in peace. I was highly disturbed.

But whatever.



Anyway, there are just some things I will never understand. One of them involves common etiquette. So sometime last week I walked over to Safeway. Yes, I walked. You may say from the Towers to Safeway in Adams Morgan is a long walk but it's really not, at least imo. So like usual, I walked in and totally forgot what  I went to the store to get, and ended up buying a whole bunch of stuff I didn't go into the store for. [eats another pack of Gushers]. I didn't feel like walking back to the Towers, so I caught the shuttle at Meridian back to the Towers. So this dummy tries to get on as me and this girl were getting off. Like sir...WTF are you doing??? Did you not think there would be people getting off? You're supposed to look through the window and see if anyone is getting off before you proceed to board the shuttle. You idiot.

It's the same situation with the elevators. First of all, let me just say that pressing the elevator button multiple times isn't gonna make the elevator come any faster. So just stop. It irritates me. Anyway, let people get off the elevators before you try to pile drive your ass onto the elevator. The elevator isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And I'm sure someone will hold the elevator door open so you can get on. It's not that serious.


Whilst walking to class, understand that the sidewalk is built for two way traffic. That entails a person or persons traveling in opposing directions in single file on a walkway. That means one person on one side of the pavement, and another on the other side of the pavement. With that said, if you're walking with a friend or friends in the same direction and there is a person walking towards you, one of you needs to move over. Don't try and get by because you're gonna bump into the person. Let's use common courtesy people. This irritates me. You see me coming. You see there isn't enough room for me to walk by. Move your sloppy ass in front or behind your friend until I pass by. Flipping idiot.





My life at Howard University.

So You Suspended My Visitation...

So about a week or so ago my friend came down from Philly (unannounced). I was happy because I haven't seen the tramp in over a year, despite the fact that she lives 2 hours away. But we wont get in to that. Anyway, so I check her in and whatever. So I call my other ace boon coon and tell him the third person of the "Awesome Threesome" is in town. Of course we wanted it to be a surprise so we didn't tell him. I figured out a way to get him from where he was, back to campus. Wasn't hard, I just told him someone was wearing his clothes. Now how the he got from upper Maryland to DC is 20 minutes is beyond me. So we chit chat in the lobby of the west towers for a bit. So we tell him to try and make it back by 2 am since he lives in the east towers and has 24 hour visitation. So as predicted, he didn't make it back. So 2 am comes, my friend is sleep, I'm on my computer minding mine, and someone knocks at the door. I know who it is and what they wanted, but I didn't feel like getting up. So my friend stayed overnight, even though she wasn't supposed to. So the next day me and my two friends (the SOB that didn't make it back to campus by 2) go to lunch brunch. We have our fun and what not.

So about 3 days later, I get this letter from my RA, or SA, or whatever the hell they're called from the building manager saying my visitation has been suspended due to "improper check out" or whatever the foolishness was. Here's what the letter reads:

"It was brought to  my attention that you violated your visitation privileges. In order to get this privilege restored, you are to provide Community Service.

Located within walking distance of Howard University is Cardozo High School. Through the Howard University Center for Urban Progress a need for volunteer tutors and homework helpers are needed.

You are to provide 20 hours of Community Service, at Cardozo High School, a background clearance my [somehow the building manager misspelled "may"]  be required to work in the District of Columbia School System. 

To schedule available time please contact: so and so

Once the hours are completed, visitation will be restored. If they are not complete visitation privileges is terminated until February 28, 2010."

 [end of letter]




Are they serious???


First of all, is this Howard University of La Petite Academy? Because the lines of distinction are wearing thin. I was baffled as I was reading this "notice". And I'm in my room reading this letter like this, and wondering if they are just pulling my leg. Low and behold, they were dead serious.

Okay, now I'm all for helping the youth. That's all fine and dandy. HOWEVER, this school..no ma'am Pam. First off, the school looks like a replica of a 19th century Soviet Union prison. I think the aesthetics are the least of my worries at this point. This is the same school that went through this just recently. It is a shame that a college student has to fear for their safety at a high school.

And then THE NERVE Howard to insult me by saying, "a background clearance my be required to work in the District of Columbia School System." Excuse me??? I live in a dorm, not a halfway house. And 20 hours at that? I don't even have 20 hours worth of class per week. WTF makes you think I'm gonna spend my time at a high school tutoring Bebe's Kids? Now in the event I do decide to help out the kids, what exactly will I be doing? I know myself, if me and the students hit a snag on something, I'm gonna tell them to just cheat on the test. Yeah it's wrong, but half the nonsense I learned in high school I barely remember, or don't use now. It is really all busy work. I wouldn't be the best candidate for tutoring kids.


Long story short, this letter will find a home somewhere in the DC landfill, wherever that may be. I will have visitors whether if they know about it or not. I pay to be here. Don't restrict my rights.




My life at Howard University.