Happy Birthday

Today would have been my Daddy's 56th birthday. Regardless of whether he's here or not, I still take the day off to relax and reflect on how wonderful of a person my Dad was. Happy Birthday Daddy, we still miss you down here.

Horoscope for the day:

Cancer
Arrange to play hooky for at least a few hours -- with a suitable partner in crime, of course. You'll have plenty of chances to catch up on your work tomorrow. For now, live a little.

Now, I wish I had called off of my am job. :)

Someday we'll all be free...

I guess in its own little way, the Freedom Center is a start. I'm still skeptical about it, after hearing conflicting stories about how it was funded and how its not telling all sides of the story to how blacks were treated during slavery. And for the entrance to be facing Covington, Kentucky. So basically freedom is mooning Cincinnati. I find it odd that Cincinnati was picked as the site of the first freedom center; there are plenty more to come in other locations across the US. This town is so conservative, and race relations aren't that good here. This is a republican city, for sure. (here's a blurb on why they chose Cincinnati for the first location, straight from the site):

Why Cincinnati?
Now as in the past, Cincinnati's location on the Ohio River puts it at the crossroads of freedom's journey. In the 1800's the city served as a major hub of activity on the Underground Railroad and its banks offered refuge to thousands seeking hope and a new way of life. Today, as the home of the Freedom Center, it acts as a beacon of light once more.

From what I saw at last night's opening ceremony, the story is going to be sugar coated a bit. With all of the speeches, dancing, and singing, everything was symbolic, maybe too symbolic. There is only so much symbolism that a person can take in a four hour period. Plus, the program itself wasn't on schedule, and there was a rumor that P. Diddy was going to be there (he wasn't, he either cancelled out or the media just straight up lied). Honestly, that's why I met my cousin and one of her friends down there; the three of us wanted to see P. Diddy. The crowd itself was sightly older, more families and grandparents than young adults. There were children there, but of course with their parents or grandparents.
That ceremony was basically to suck up to all of the corporate sponsors that funded the center, it really wasn't for the city like they made it out to be. Just a big facade. I am interested in going into the building, but only if I got the hookup on some free tickets. The Freedom Center is better than having nothing that explains of what went on during slavery and the importance of the Underground Railroad, but there's got to be some other options too. This is a start, but there's still more work to be done. Granted that the truth is ugly sometimes, but they say that the truth shall set you free. It's time for people to really get free.

Usher, in Cincinnati? Can't be!

Nothing is going to get me down today, that's how much of a good mood I'm in. Hey, I just saw Usher in concert last night, and it was worth every penny! It's pretty hot that he actually came to Cincinnati, "The most boring city in the Midwest" (just made that up, that's probably obvious), especially when Philly is the next stop for his tour tomorrow. I'm shocked that I still have my voice, because I screamed pratically the whole time he was on stage. With one exception, while he brought a girl from the audience on stage (she had to be pre-selected though, cuz if that was anyone else, they would have flipped out, no joke!)to sing to her. *Must take a pause to listen to "Burn" it's on the radio right now. :D* Well, anyways, my friend and I were sitting there saying "lucky heffa" and all kinds of mess while she was on stage getting serenaded by Usher. We were near the top of US Bank Arena, but they were good seats, you could see the whole stage, and everything. Besides, if we were on the floor, those explosions would have been a lot louder than what they were! Can't forget to mention about Kanye West, that's my boy. I was in there just about rapping every lyric to the songs he did. I'm extra happy about seeing him again, because I saw him on campus back in late May. It don't take much to make me happy, and seeing Kanye twice in one year is gonna keep me grinning for a minute.
Gotta thank my girl Keri real quick for inviting me, cuz I've been feeling weighed down on some other issues with other friends (now ex-friends again I suppose). So I just want to thank her and wish her an early b-day although it's a week from today. Its good to know that some real people and real friends still exist in this world. Maybe screaming my brains out over a hottie like Usher, especially when he ripped-not removed, ripped his shirt off, is all the fixing that I needed. Who woulda knew!

...a brief detailed message ?!

Okay, I'm still sitting at the Family Medicine job, trying to make quite a few phone calls. I'm not a fan of making phone calls at work, but the job was assigned to me, so there isn't much else to do but actually do it. I called this one doctor's office, and on the voice message the lady said "please leave a brief detailed message." I don't know how detailed a person can be in a brief message. It just sounded odd, and funny to me. In a way, I can sympathize with the lady, I hate leaving recorded messages, even the greeting on my cell phone's voice mail. When it comes to work, I'm not too fond of picking up the phone, bottom line. It makes me nervous. Anyway- I'm gonna get back to work now, so I won't look too suspicious.

One month goes by pretty fast. Especially when you're exhausted, mentally and physically. Classes and work are fine, and keeping me busy Monday-Thursdays. I had a midterm last Thursday for Marketing Strategy, and I had to take the morning off to gather my thoughts. I guess that I got too lost in my thoughts because I didn't do so great on the Marketing Strategy exam I had. A lot of times, midterms can be overwhelming. It's definately a challenge to overcome, even this late in the game.