Today's Action...Update

Today's Action: Focus on Rest and Relaxation

And as of July 1st: Today's Actions will be updated weekly
(It is my hope to return to daily updates after the summer has ended)
But for now, enjoy the Holiday and look for "Today's Action"
the Weekly edition on Monday


~Marsha

Fast Getaway

Today's Action: The Great Escape (making a fast getaway!)

Summer is the time of vacation.... Visiting friends, and finding new and exciting destinations, but how do you getaway when you aren't on vacation?

It is my belief that everyone should have a hobby that allows them to take time out of the day, week, month and just relax. I'm a lot a bit of a nerd so I enjoy exploring the Internet and learning new things, this blog has also given my a place to escape. Taking time out from my job search, or the mindless reruns on television. So the great escape does not always have to mean leaving home. You should be able to find something that you can do in your free time and as you move along in your busy life, it is important to make time for yourself.


So how do you make your great escape?

~Marsha

Just in Time

Every few months I get a new CD that I play everyday... all day!

I have been a fan of Erykah Badu since the first time I heard On & On from her first album Baduizm and she has not disappointed. Each album she releases reminds you why you are a fan and gives you a little more of Badu.

New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) has become the soundtrack to my life as I travel though the hot beginning of summer.

Like you I was introduced to the album by all of the controversy surrounding the Window Seat video. And when the song hit the air ways, it spoke to me... Facing a lot I desperately wanted a ticket out of town...

But with each rotation of the CD in my stereo or touch selection on my ipod, I found other sounds to connect with... And if I had to pick a favorite song, Out my Mind, Just in Time is it. It reminds me of Green Eyes from Mama's Gun. It is that song you don't want to end, changing seamlessly but holding a common thread in theme.

Sadly, I must say that I have never seen her in concert... but after this album, I'm on a mission to change that!

The Lessons of Life

Today's Action: Supporting others-Findind the Lesson

So because I did not post for yesterday's action, today is an extension....
Yesterday’s action was to support others (there is always a lesson for self in helping others), and today's is finding the lesson.

Everything that happens in our life has a purpose, no matter how tiny the event. From deciding to have a girls' night out to picking the great new job and moving away. We must take the time to find the lessons... I started to understand this lesson thing best during college. I have always wanted to move away, and college was my ticket out. I turned down some great opportunities, to go to college out of state. And as much as I wanted to stay away, after two years, procrastination and a little bit of laziness (I can admit now) I had to take a semester off and move back home.

I didn't want to, but had no other option. However when I got home and started to work (for the first time). I begun to appreciate what I had, and what I would need to do to accomplish the goals I had set for myself.

I even started to appreciate being home, I started to understand that the issues I thought I was escaping by moving away followed me wherever I went. So I have faced many of them. And in the process learned to appreciate my experiences, learn from my challenges and face my fears...

During a challenging times in your life, what lessons have you learned?


~Marsha

Just Do It

Today's Action: Stop talking and do it

I have decided today to stop talking about how I want to do this or that and just do it.... I have a list of things that I want to do, and talk so much about them that I can make you believe it. But that all stops Today! I am always talking about starting my own online business, and by the end of July it will be up and running. And if it isn't, I will stop talking about it, because the truth is I am making myself sick.

What's something you need to stop talking about and just do?

~Marsha

Hypnotized

How do you select music? Are you a fan of the artist, like a song or two that you've heard on the radio? Or is it purely power of suggestion?

Now there are some songs and artist that I can not see what the point of their music is, and I am good friends with their fans. And for the past few weeks, I find myself listening to Nicki Minaj's new song "Your Love." But you must understand that when she started, I didn't get it, I was not a fan. However it seems that she is everywhere, so much so that young girls are starting to dress, and talk like her and she is on heavy rotation on the radio....as a feature for the most part. So there is no escaping her.

And it seems that the more I hear her songs, I start to like her a little bit more...snail distance (it's slow going). Now I like this "Your Love" song but it is a departure from her normal Barbie theme, maybe if she stays in this lane for a while the appeal will grow a little faster.

But I guess this idea of suggestion can be applied to everything...
So my question is, how much of are consumption is choice or the power of suggestion?

Time Travel

So I don't think that the writer's block is over, normally I have so much on my mind... But I continue to time travel, looking over my past though my writing. I found my yellow folder (which houses all my poetry) and I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote some of this stuff. And then there are other pieces where I can tell you where I was when I wrote it, who or what I was thinking about and how the piece is still relevant to my life.

I have even found some old copies of a friends magazine that she created in middle school...and my writing in that is a mess. But it has been interesting to look back, I just hope I can move forward soon.

I have some ideas, I just need to work them out...I'll keep you posted!

Just My Luck

Now that I have decided to focus on my writing, I can't think of anything to write. I have been trying to write some guest blogs for different sites and can't seem to get anything down, that I like. In hopes to find some inspiration, I have been looking over some of my old stuff from college and found this...

Writer's Block

This is the second time today
I tried to write
Tried to find
Clever metaphors
Even childish rhymes
But nothing

Just sitting back, staring at the screen
Watching the time
With useless thoughts of how good
My last poem was

How I fear that nothing I say
Will be new, fresh
The best
of me

My vocabulary has disappeared
And I am unable to write
So I ramble
Thinking fast,
But never typing a line

Deleting for a new start

Writing A Book

I have decided to write a book, I write all the time... But recently, since the passing of my father I have thought a lot about our relationship. I have always wondered about how the father-daughter relationship affects young women. Having a very different relationship then my peers, my parents were married, and my father was so much a part of my life, I sometimes wanted a break from him. I have always wondered how I would be if I was not so close to him, if I had a father that was not there. Who would have been my male prototype, the man I look to for guidance. So the plan is to write a book that discusses the relationship I had with my father, how that has effected my romantic relationships (or lack there of) and the impact the father-daughter relationship has on young African American women. Right now I am in research mode, trying to get my hands on any books that talk about black families.

Right now I am reading...

Ensuring Inequality: The Structural Transformation of the African American Family
By: Donna L. Franklin and William Julius Wilson

It is my goal to...

Work to help minority students both in and outside the classroom
Create a non-profit organization
Attain publication for my writing
Promote positive change for myself and others