I can honestly say that I'm not much on rhymes or poetry, claiming myself to be either firmly ensconced in technical geekness, or considering myself to be a creatively-challenged person. I'm sure quite a few people would say otherwise. Be that as it may, I thought it would be cool to dig into the crates for Poem On Your Blog Day, declared by RonnTaylor and buttonized by Ofrenda. The first poem that came to mind is by Maya Angelou.

Maya was one of the people that hit me at an early age, though not in poetry, but in books. I would read voraciously when I was younger, and practically memorized some of her books, like I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Singin' And Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas. The last poem that I can remember clearly that struck me, however, was Still I Rise, which always makes me smile in the face of danger and uncertainty.

The rest of the set. Wow. I had to actually think.

From Cobb:
1. What convinced you finally, that you were somebody?
Two things come immediately to mind.
1: I was born in New York but spent most of my time in the South. You had to know that I hated it here in the outset. Speaking perfect English in the midst of Southerners and being mollified and bullied at every outlet was really no good. In high school, as much as I didn't like the South and didn't fit in, I was sitting in the cafeteria and they called out the top 10 list. I figured since I was a little too different, I wouldn't have made the cut. When they called out my name listed in the top 10, I had never seen everyone give me a standing ovation. The bullying and demoralizing stopped. That's when I knew that being in the South wasn't so bad after all.
2: My past job...even though I was eventually laid off, I made it to the top of the technical chain and was able to take advantage of stock options. That let me know that I could do anything I wanted. That statement still holds.
2. Describe your favorite kind of BBQ.
There's a place here called Fat Matt's Rib Shack, which sells beef and pork ribs. They don't accept credit cards, only cash. This barbecue has hickory goodness in it, with barbecue that's spicy enough to make a dent, but not spicy enough to cause indigestion. The type of barbecued ribs that they let marinate for at least 4 hours, and slide right off the bone.
3. Who did it hurt you most to leave? My second ex. They taught me that it was okay to be young, a professional, and still have wants and needs out of life, and attain them, yet still keep the kid inside. I never saw them again, and they passed a year after we broke up.

[ Update: Monday Music works below, and can always be located under musical moonrays on the right. My bad. As for the mixup of tracks, it's not my doing. It's evil incarnate. ]

A couple of musings that should have posted this weekend, but as usual I got caught up in music, concerts, and all-around web-surfing.

I'll be posting the second set of answers to the meme from last Monday on Wednesday. Last call for free-for-all.

I got a Big Rocka Blog Award. Whodathunkit? Big ups to Rocka.

Danyel Smith is now a guest blogger on Anil's site. With George also interviewing her, and now a VBT in full effect, I am now desperately needing another clone to just read. Me myself? I'm wrapped up in music right now.

Last weekend, I was able to go see Laurnea perform, even though I missed a portion of the concert by being lazy/late. She was phenomenal and I managed to get her autograph, even though I am officially known to her as DJ. EJ the DJ? Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Um, on second thought...

This past weekend, I was able to go back to the joint and see Omar and Julie Dexter perform, after seeing her perform with Loose Ends several years ago. Julie opened the night well - as a matter of fact, so much so that it made me listen to her CDs again. The problem? She only had 20 minutes to perform, leading the way for Omar.

Omar rocked the joint as usual, and rocked us well. From what I'm understanding, his second show that night was much longer than the first show. At least he called me EJ.

Then I went out and bought lots of CDs. Hence the new radio.blog. Monday Music is in full force. Tracklistings are below:

First thing's first.

1. I support Team Buccho, hands down.
2. I'm still marinating over LTJ Bukem and the fact that I was able to witness drum and bass with no other than Trader Mike. Life is good.
3. I'm a little irritated over going to see Laurnea, purchasing her CD, getting her autograph, and then losing both the CD and the autograph. First the laptop, now this. Ugh.
4. I'm still somewhat mystified/annoyed by Blog justice and its discontents. I'll be at SXSW next year, that's for sure.

Onto the answers. Thanks for the questions! Any more questions, I'll answer them also. I'll entertain questions for the rest of the week.

(Update: This is actually going to be a meme for the entire week, looks like. Seems to be coming from everywhere but I saw them at Deb, DC, Rogue and ASB just to name a few...)

I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. You may ask me anything.

Then to go to your journal or weblog, and copy and paste this allowing others (including myself) to ask you anything. Please do a trackback ping so I'll know that you copied it.

Answers will be given in a follow-up post.

Good things come in threes.....especially Radio Blogs.

There's one that's from Prime, who's doing his New Jack Flash Back Friday, then my wifey Angelica, who's doing her Friday Flashback (cause you know we have to represent), and then there's another hip brotha, Trader Mike who's moving the crowd with his drum and bass. They're gonna get me through this long weekend!

Enjoy!