Things About MagnoliaDiva

I got the idea to do this from NerdGirl and Facebook.

1. I am a news nerd (I read 3 or more newspapers a day and scan others online). I also can watch the news for hours on television.

2. I secretly want to be a professional photographer (photojournalist and sports photography) or a investigative journalist/reporter.

3. I have three pet peeves: lying (UGH), staring (if you look that hard, SPEAK for crying out loud) and popping gum (just plain rude….NO ONE wants to hear what is going on in  your mouth…..No, we don’t…..really!).

4. I grew up in a two-parent home with a much older brother (8.5 years older) and sister (12 years older) and we ate dinner as a family every day, with whoever was home (seeing that my siblings are much older, some of them were off in school as I got older). So um, yeah…no one can tell me that I was planned……….WHATEVER!I KNOW I wasn’t! LOL….

5. I literally grew up on a college campus (Jackson State University) because my parents worked there and NEVER had a summer where I wasn’t in a summer program, working or taking part in practices for extra curricular activities (in other words, my parents never let me have in idle summer….BOOOOOOOOO!). Of course now, I appreciate EVERY MINUTE of those summer programs and “village” raising!

6. I play the piano (mainly classical) and organ (no, they are not the same play) and took weekly lessons from the age of 4 until I was 17. I cannot play by ear, but I sightread very well.

7. I am one of a few (very few) Delta’s in my family (others mainly via marriage). My Mom, sister, and a host of aunts and cousins are all AKAs.

8. Earth, Wind & Fire and Mint Condition are my all-time favorite bands. I love GOOD music.

9. I am an 80s rap head (minus the west-coast gansta rap). I love Run DMC, M C Lyte, etc.

10. I was born in the mid-west (Hoosier baby), raised in the deep south (Mississippi) and now reside in the mid-atlantic area of the US.

11. I am really an introvert……no, really…..I am….

12. I have been secretly called “The RainWoman” because I tend to know little facts about useless stuff (blame that on the newspaper reading)….LOL.

13. I am a STAUNCH manners and etiquette person…..those who know me best can attest to this! LOL..

14. I think that there is so much to be learned from people from other cultures, countries, and backgrounds. Diversity isnt’ just a buzzword for me…..

15. I suffer from ulcerative colitis (a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and there is no cure. It is an auto-immune disease that attacks your colon and immune system. There are no REAL know causes and no current cure. Google it to find out more….

16. I am a Christian and try to live my life, daily, as I should from His teachings, but some of ya’ll make it REAL HARD ……………LOL!!!

17. I am a die-hard sports fan…….I subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket and will apply a hurting on someone if they change the station when I am watching my teams play (no joke)…

18. I fell in love with volleyball, by accident, in junior high. We were in study hall with a mean teacher and an announcement came over the intercom for any women interested in playing volleyball to report to the gym. ALL OF US left out of the room (LOL). I ended up playing, for real, LOVED IT and played for 2 years! I still like playing beach volleyball, when I get a change (SPIKE!).

19. I am very interested in Web 2.0 and its tools and how they impact our daily lives….(there it is…..the nerd coming back out).

20. I am an engineer, by educational training (BS and MSEE), and am a techy to the core! Yes, I am an engineer, but NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER!! Call a technician! LOL….. Yes, I went to school and earned an engineering degree, but they don’t teach us how to FIX those things…..they teach us how to DESIGN THEM!! There is a difference, people!

21. I HATED, HATED, HATED being tall growing up (I was 5’6″ in the 6th grade)! I grew to 5’10” by the 10th grade. As I got older, I learned to LOVE it.  Now, I wish I was about 2″ taller…….no kidding. I LOVE being tall.

22. I love being challenged! I guess my parents and I had that love/hate thing going on when I growing up (LOL)!

23. I love my siblings more than they know…..we fight like cats and dogs and then play like puppies and kittens when it’s all over! LOL!

24.  I am afraid of heights. BUT, I have to have the window seat on airplanes. I can’t walk along the glass  half-walls at malls on the upper floors (where you can look down). I get light-headed.

25. I am DEATHLY afraid of guns……..can’t stand to be near them and

shake if I get close to one. I just need to go to a shooting range and get this all over with (the fear, that is…).

26. I love lemons in my tea and LOVE homemade lemonade, but don’t like lemons pastries and desserts and other lemon stuff (lemon pound cake, lemon tarts, pie, etc.).

27. I used to want to be a medical researcher (cardiologist doing research on non-invasive methods for heart surgery). That was until I took the MCAT……I stayed in engineering! LOL….

28. I used to sneak and eat the kids’ Tylenol that had the orange flavor. I thought it tasted good when Iwas a kid and would pull the tall chair in the kitchen up to the fridge and get in the cabinet and pop them like candy. Thank you for God’s grace and mercy because I should be DEAD after that…..

29. I wish people would stop relying on things of the past as an excuse to not do NOW.

30. I never realized how blessed I was being raised in Jackson and having a “village” raise me and look out for me when my blood relatives weren’t around.

31. Both of my parents hold PhDs. They actually had me when they were in their PhD programs (see #4). My Mom told my sister that she was preganant and my sister promptly told her, “That is impossible! We can’t AFFORD another child in this house!” because they were living on graduate stipends with 2 kids! LOL….. My sister, I tell ya….she’s a funny woman (back to this one in a sec……).

32. I thought my brother and sister hated me growing up because they never wanted me around them, in their rooms, etc. It wasn’t until I got to college they they “liked  me” (in my eyes)….

33. I was  an 80s music Night Tracks JUNKIE in junior high and high school! We had cable but the parentals REFUSED to pay for a cable box, so our cable went 2-13 (until cable-ready TVs came out). So, WTBS (now TNT) it was on Friday nights! Duran Duran, Brian Adams, White Lion, etc……..yeah, I was an 80s pop girl!

34. I love Faith Hill and her music. Yeah, I said it! We are Mississippi Girls!

35. I am a crier………..I am very emotional….

36. My favorite numbers are 9, 16 and 34.

37. I’m very observant…I don’t miss much. I may not say anything about what I see or have seen, but I am VERY observant.

38. I used to be a TERRIBLE pack rat. Kept notes from undergrad and grad school…..just threw them away last year.

39. I hate designer advertising. Like BeBe on t-shirts, the big ‘C’s on Coach bags, etc. I like A LOT of their stuff, but I refuse to be a walking advertisement. I purchase items because I like them and they are usually of good quality and will last, but that whole walking advertisement stuff………not me, kid…..

40. I hate pretentiousness. Who cares about where you live, how much money you make and where you work and what kind of car you drive?! No, really?! When we die, God isn’t going to ask those questions.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, Spring in the Deep South

So, yeah………..you’d think I was talking about flowers, warm weather and (ah choo) pollen. I’ll give you the flowers, but the warm weather……

WHY IN THE HECK WAS THERE A FREEZE WARNING for Central Mississippi Monday night?? Dude and dudettes, it’s freakin’ April 15th! We’ve had the HEAT on in this house since Saturday (when I arrived)!?! Look, you non-environmentally conscious people, GET IT TOGETHER! You are messing up our planet and contributing to global warming and screwing up the ecosystem!

Back to my lovely magnolia visit, so my Mom and this group of ladies get together every other Tuesday and play bridge. They rotate homes to host and guess who was up today? Yeah, you guessed it………my Mom. They do a full formal lunch and then hit the cards (LOL). I assisted my mother with setting the table (my job for as long as I can remember) and helping serve the ladies.

Of course, one of her formal china pattens was pulled out for use, goblets were rinsed out and hand-dried, and a beautiful flatware pattern was used. Ahhhhhhhhh, being at home can be so renaissance-like! I LOVE a formal table.

That is one of the things I LOVE about being raised in the south. Most entertaining at home is done using formal china, flatware and REAL crystal. It makes a table look COMPLETE and VERY elegant. I know that EVERY holiday that we are home, the formal stuff is pulled out. Every time my mother entertains her bridge club, it’s pulled out. Any time my parents entertain guests, it’s pulled out.

Side note: I found this really NEAT web tool that sets your table for you, if you enter what is being served (the web is so cool!).

Just my mini-rant on one of the many things I LOVE about being a southern girl.

RANT – updated!

This is a REAL RANT here, …..I have a right to it…it a BLOG for crying out loud!

I’ve lived here in the Washington, DC, area for 6 years now. It’s been an INTERESTING ride….

I love the area for it’s diversity, things to do, proximity to other metropolitan areas, and the area gets all 4 seasons. There is always plenty to do, see, eat, walk to, ride, etc. I love the area for that.

I DISLIKE the area for it’s cost of living and….how do I say this, RUDE/MORAL-LESS/MANNER-LESS/PRETENTIOUS people (not all, SOME).

Attitude rant: I’ve just about HAD IT with people that talk to you any ole kind of way (cursing, talking AT you, LOUD, etc.). I’ve been told that it’s the nature of this area…BULL! Since their MOM, GRANDMOTHER, mate or whoever raised them didn’t tell them how to talk to folks, not my problem. I know of folks who urinate in the shower every day, that STILL doesn’t make it right! Interruping people while they talk, talking at a person, being LOUD with them, etc., are characteristics of RUDENESS! Um, yeah, RUDENESS!!!

If YOU are having a bad day and I had nothing to do with it, NOT MY FAULT, CUZ! Breathe, count to 10, meditate, but take your stank attitude and words elsewhere. We don’t need it!

Pretentious rant: I wish people would stop being concerned with what zip code they live in, what car they drive, what designer someone has on, who they work for, etc. When you die, do you REALLY think that is what matters? When you get to Heaven (um, I suppose that is where you want to go), do you really think that God is going to ask you what you drove, what you wore, etc.? Nope, nadda, negative. YES, it’s okay to have nice things, but GEEZ, don’t let material things DEFINE who you are. YOU are so much more than that! Clothes, houses, cars don’t make a person. If they do, hey, DO YOU, then. I think that this area has some SERIOUS pretentiousness issues that will never go away.

Oh, another thing. What gives someone the RIGHT to JUDGE others on what they have/don’t have? I’m at a loss on that one…..write me back if you have the answer! I am so SICK of folks JUDGING what others have and don’t have, ESPECIALLY if they feel it’s LESS than what they have (smaller house, less expensive car, job PERCEIVED not to be as important as theirs, etc.). Gimme a dang break!

Housing rant: If you have money for a house, can you PLEASE have money to MAINTAIN that joint? Like, we shouldn’t have to live in a neighborhood where 90% of the folks keep their yard up while the 10% let them just GO and the geese are their lawn mowers! NOT COOL! Speaking of yards, can you NOT work on your car(s) in the driveway like this is the public car repair shop? Can you PARK IN THE DRIVEWAY and not on the street, EVERY DAY, so some of us won’t have to DODGE your car, coming around the corner? CAN YOU PLEASE not park on the opposite side of the street AT THE END OF SOMEONE’S DRIVEWAY? The minute someone pulls out of their driveway and accidentally HITS your joint, you are going to be MAD.

Manners rant: Chivalry is NOT dead. Any call after 10pm is a booty call. My aunt used to tell me , “If a man calls you after midnight, there is only one thing open….your legs!”. It’s NOT okay for you to come over “only during meal time” because your broke butt wants a meal, but any other time, you are no where to be found. No, you can’t “tour my house”…..unless a person OFFERS, their house is not a museum. No, you can’t know how much someone paid for their house, who they voted for and how much they make! GET A LIFE! That’s PERSONAL!

Apathy rant: I am so sick of folks in certain areas complaining about their environment (schools, neighborhood, etc.), but THEY (the parents, kids, tax payer, etc.) aren’t a bit more involved than Adam’s house cat! Complaining, accepting “status quo”, not participating/donating (money isn’t the only donation that one can give….time is important, too) are not going to change things! Stop accepting what is given to you, if you don’t like it, get off your butt and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! GEEZ! It isn’t rocket science, people!!! You don’t like something, find out WHY it’s the way it is, look for solutions, garner participation/support for your efforts and see where it gets you. If nothing can be done, currently, don’t give up, keep pushing!

I’m done…….for today……