How Romantic Are You?

This is a great quote from a Chatterbean.com quiz, on one of the sites I work for.

"Pink bows, red hearts, candy: these timeless symbols of love remind us that lovers continue to thrive on romance," "But if romance could be packaged, it would likely bear the Surgeon General's warning, 'This state of mind may be hazardous to your health,' for many an ardent lover is dissolved in the bubbly elixir of unbridled infatuation. Romance is indeed a guiding fiction."

How true is this! Don't get lost in the bubbly elixir. You'll surely drown!

xoxo,

trinity7

emotional rollercoaster

I am not faring well this week. Im starting to feel all ugh about work and all that. I'm getting a little- or a lot- bored and am just feeling a little like " what exactly am I doing again?" I hate the feeling of being someone who has all this vision and no follow through. What good is a dream if you can't fulfill it? OR better yet, what good is vision if its blurred. Its like you're walking but you dont know where you are going.

I woke up this morning to a wave of different emotions. LD is going through an emotional rollercoaster herself. My brother called me from his car with slurred speech and an empty emotional bottle. My dad called me telling me to talk to my mom about her depression/emotional rollercoaster brought on by nothing more than a so-so hand of cards( depending on how you look at it)

I hate emotions! They ruin you!

Love,

Ting

prior post by LD

sorry I forgot to write that it was me...

I'm dating

Well well,
I am suddenly single, in an interesting and rather unexpected turn of events, I broke up with M. He resisted. He continues to resist.
Offered to take me on vacation anywhere that I wanted, offered to change his ways. Asked me to give him a second chance about a million times over.

I must say, this is the first time I have ever broke up with someone. And it was so horrible, I was an emotional wreck this morning. But, I also must admit, the fact that he is trying so hard to get me back tells me that I was doing something right during the relationship. It also lets me know that he knows he's been less than adequate in his prioritizing of his life. I also am convinced that he truly loves me.

Now what? I told M that he could basically court me. In the famous words of Meredith Gray..."I'm dating." M can call me, woo me, vacation my ass all he wants to. I am not committing to him, he's not my boyfriend and he can not get mad at me for someone else calling/dating me. I told him that whatever he thinks I need from him, multiply it by ten, and that's what I really want. I think he got the idea.

We'll see...in the meanwhile. I'm dating...

awww...she texted me

joan texted me to say thank you for calling her on her birthday, and to ask me if I got an internship yet.

how sweeet....

(I am not being sarcastic, in case anyone was wondering if I was in vindictive bitch mode...I am not)

-LD

we hear you tings...

Hey tingy,
I read your posts yesterday, although I did get to hear firsthand what your thoughts were while the "race conversation" was going on...I didn't want you to think nobody cared! Love you guys...
D

Is M. J. right? Does it matter if you're black or white?

So I'm in the break room this afternoon at lunch with 3 of my co-workers engaging in the usually lunchtime banter: food, family, weekend plans, sports. One of the girls starts talking about how she is so annoyed by the recent publicity the Bears and Colts coaches have received because they're the first two black coaches to go to the Super bowl at the same time. I mean really-- who cares if there have never been two black people in LEADERSHIP in an industry COMPLETELY fueled by blacks in the year 2007. Hmm... sounds like a familiar economic system that was once completely fueled by blacks with whites in leadership. At least this time we can become millionaires-- lest we run the damn thing. I digress.
So the conversation continues and we (my self and two other girls) try to explain the importance of recognizing historical moments in a particular ethnic community (i.e. Halle Berry and Denzel Washington, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice- you get the point)
I made the horrible mistake of saying the phrase "cracker jack" in reference to the lily white(I am allowed to say that- no?) community that I live in. My co-worker, the same girl who feels like "the media is shoving the fact that two black coaches are going to the Super Bowl in her face" was offended. She quickly corrected me and the conversation, needless to say, took a turn down Gray Street.
She explained to me that the word cracker is offensive to white people and that she doesn't even like when people call her white because she is Caucasian.
She then took a leap, and I mean S--T--R--E--T--C--H and said it would be the same as her using the word Nigger. Enter Krystal stage left.
I (being the civil soul that I am) quickly apologized for the "offensive" comment that I made, noting that I realize it is derogatory but that I was not aware that ANYONE saw it as comparable to the word Nigger.
I submit- I got comfortable and loss my head and said Cracker in front of 3 white women. Krystal- don't do that. HOWEVER, I DID let her know that the meaning, connotation, origin, level of offense, WHATEVER-- is NOT the same.
The conversation ended and an hour later we all trotted back to our cubes. Then a few hours later I receive an email(http://www.adversity.net/special/niggardly_terms.htm)
An attempt to educate me I propose. And to point out the fact that the word Cracker is derogatory. Point Taken.... My point also made.
The definition of the word Cracker
Derogatory reference to whites, typically conservative southerners who are still fighting the Civil War; term may or may not connote a belief in segregation or slavery. Used mostly by blacks and by liberal, white northerners.
Another co-worker sent this:
http://gyral.blackshell.com/names.html
The definition of the word Cracker:
First used by the slaves to refer to their slave owners. Could originate from a) 'corncracker,' someone who distills corn whiskey, or b) the 'crack' of a whip the slave owners used or c) "white as a soda cracker". Might also refer to southern farmers too poor to own slaves, so they had to work their own fields. Cracker was a derogatory term used by the Scarlett O'Hara set.
I thought to my self... well damn. That word IS offensive. It just MAY be as offensive as the word Nigger.
I mean really, who would want to be associated with a term defined by the sound an object made when it sliced the back of a black person.
CRACKer goes the whip.

Live Long and Prosper!!

CT woman now world's oldest known person
By STEPHANIE REITZ
Connecticut Post Online
Article Last Updated:01/25/2007 02:09:21 PM EST
EAST HARTFORD, Conn.

Emma Faust Tillman, who marked her 114th birthday last fall by crediting God for her longevity, has become the world's oldest known person.

Tillman, born in 1892 to former slaves in North Carolina, earned the distinction Wednesday after the death of 115-year-old Emiliano Mercado del Toro at his home on the northern coast of Puerto Rico.

Tillman, of East Hartford, had been the world's third-oldest person until 115-year-old Julie Winnifred Bertrand of Montreal, Canada, died in her sleep last week. With del Toro's death on Wednesday, Tillman became the world's oldest validated "supercentenarian" in records maintained by the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles and other organizations.

At 114 years and 63 days old, Tillman reached the top spot more quickly than the average "oldest known" person verified by Guinness World Records, who is usually closer to 114-and-a-half. Tillman is the youngest title holder in six years, said Robert D. Young, senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records. Her ascent _ from sixth-oldest in August 2006 to the top position Wednesday _ was particularly speedy. The average time for a person to be the world's oldest is about eight months, Young said. "I think everybody's astounded that the other people died as quickly as they did," he said.

Family members who visited her Wednesday at Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center said Tillman, who wore a light green blazer and loosely braided hair as she dozed in a wheelchair, has taken the news in stride each time she has moved to a higher spot.

"So much has happened in 114 years that there's nothing really that fazes her anymore," said her great-great nephew, John B. Stewart III. Tillman's great-nephew, former Hartford fire chief John B. Stewart Jr., has said she never smoked, never drank, did not need glasses and agreed to wear a hearing aid only reluctantly. The once-sociable woman, who enjoyed "being treated like a diva" and hitting the Foxwoods Resort Casino slot machines, now tires easily and sleeps most of the day, said her great-nephew. He said Wednesday that they were caught by surprise when they learned she was the oldest known person in the world, and that they recognize their time with her is fleeting and precious. "Something happens when you get to be 114 or 115 years old. The good Lord calls you home," John Stewart Jr. said.

Tillman, one of 23 children, moved with her family from Sedalia, N.C., to Glastonbury in 1900 to follow other family members who already had moved north. She graduated in 1909 as the only black student in her high school and later worked as a cook, maid, party caterer and caretaker for children of several wealthy families.

One of the clients of her baking service was Dr. Thomas Hepburn, a noted Hartford Hospital urologist and father to actress Katharine Hepburn. She married Arthur Tillman in 1914, and they raised two daughters in Hartford before his death in 1939. One of her daughters is deceased and the other, Marjorie, is her caretaker and a constant presence with her at Riverside. Before moving to Riverside at age 110, she lived alone in a Hartford apartment for years. She also has been a member of the A.M.E. Zion Church in Hartford for more than 80 years and was in the choir there for more than 70 years.

Longevity runs in the family. One of Tillman's brothers lived to be 108, while one sister lived to 105 and two others lived to 102. Karen Chadderton, the Riverside center administrator, said Wednesday that Tillman is introspective and unfazed by her longevity. "She has a lot of faith and says, 'Whatever the good Lord wants is what will happen,'" Chadderton said.

Mercado del Toro, whom Tillman replaces as the world's oldest person, died at his home in the town of Isabela, about 70 miles west of San Juan, of natural causes, his grandniece, Dolores Martinez told The Associated Press. "He died like a little angel," Martinez said.

The Associated Press/ Associated Press Writer Frank Gaud in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

**TINGLE**