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.

Great Sounds Heard Last Night

Last night, I heard one of the best sounds ever……………… No, I wasn’t playing Earth, Wind and Fire or Lalah Hathaway. Instead, I heard NFL FOOTBALL on my TV!!! Who cares if it was the Hall Of Fame game! It was NFL FOOTBALL!!

August through early February is my favorite time of year. Hubby’s birthday, my birthday, HBCU homecomings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and…………FOOTBALL!! AH!!

As a kid who grew up in the deep south (where Football is a second religion), I can remember MANY a Saturday, going to Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium attending Jackson State football games. I remember the large crowds cheering their team on, the bands battling til midnight (that’s now affectionately known as 5th Quarter) and the tailgating. I LOVE SOME FOOTBALL!!

Just thought that I’d share this with ya’ll because this is MY time of the year! Cooler weather is just around the corner, the leaves will be changing colors, and football will be on EVERY WEEKEND!! WHOO HOO!!!
Oh, sidenote: PLEASE tell me what possessed Steve Smith to punch Ken Lucas and break his nose? I am a HUGE Panthers fan, but this is crazy! I mean, Steve, what did he do? Say something about your Mom? Seriously, dude………

I’m Waiting……..It better be REAL GOOD, too

Miss Thing has some splainin’ to do on this one…..

Maryland should take note of this

Oh, can you say, you and your child at the wrong/non-zoned school have officially been put on BLAST in two school districts in Mississippi?! I LOVE IT! Read the article here.

WHY do I love it? I am a taxpaying citizen of Maryland and I have MAJOR issues with non-Maryland non-tax-paying folks using Maryland resources on my dime, be it health care, schools, etc.

Maybe some other school districts in our area should take note and put their violaters on BLAST, too. Hmmmmm.

Thoughts, comments, etc.?

The Gulf Coast 18 months later

Well, I was able to go home to Mississippi this past weekend. My HoneyBear and I traveled to New Orleans for the day to attend the NBA game between the Hornets and the Lakers, where he had to work. We left early that morning so that we could take our time getting down there (which is only a 2.5 hour drive) and spend some time together. I also was VERY nervous about the trip as I had not been south of Jackson since Hurricane Katrina hit the area.

As we traveled south on Hwy 49 and I-59, my anger and sadness from Hurricane Katrina just boiled back up, again. Leaning trees, uprooted trees, debris being gathered to be disposed of, etc., along with trucks traveling up and down the highway. There were other things that made my blood boil……you know, like my taxpayer dollars CONTINUING to be WASTED on these 1000’s of FEMA trailers, NEVER USED and just sitting on ACRES and ACRES of land. Oh, yeah…..didn’t FEMA just kick folks OUT the trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi a couple of weeks ago? So, what are they doing with THESE trailers, since they’ve NEVER been used?! The FLEECING OF AMERICA continues……

Wanna know what FEMA stands for? This sums it up, WELL….

As we got closer to New Orleans, my sadness and anger turned me silent. I think that it’s SICK that this country can deliver food, water, shelter, bridges, etc., in countries 1000s of miles away, in a day’s notice, but PUNKED OUT when it came to delivering goods and services to New Orleans during a MAJOR disaster that was caused by NATURE.

It sickens me to see that New Orleans East and the lower 9th look like a third world country with it’s dilapidated houses (if standing at all), silent streets, and little sign of clean-up or repair. This is something that we should NEVER see in America, but we did as we rode through the streets. You heard a few saws and saw a few backhoes working, but not enough.

But here is a kicker for you, WHY, 18 months after the storm, aren’t these homes rebuilt and WHY are FEMA trailers still needed? Oh yeah, forgot…..the whack insurance industry PUNKED OUT, too, and won’t grant the people who have paid insurance money to them for YEARS their FULL CLAIM money. Like Chris Rock said, insurance is some “just in case” money that we may every month for crap that never happens. Well, crap happened and the full-pocket insurance companies that have fleeced America all of these years need to MAN UP and PAY UP, IN FULL!!!

I was told that pictures and the news served NO justice to the conditions that Hurricane Katrina left behind. With all of the technology with digital images, digital camera feeds, etc., I thought that I had a clear picture of what happened from the web and news. I was wrong. Click here to view my pictures.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I was GLUED to the television and computer every day. I have NEVER, in all the days of my life, cried as much as I did that single week. It was to the point that my Mom told me that I need to shut the television off or I was going to drive myself crazy. But that’s just it, I am in my right mind and wasn’t in New Orleans or Mississippi (my home state) when Katrina hit. But those that were in those locations are probably going to need mental therapy for years to come. From what I saw with my own eyes last week, 18 months AFTER the storm hit, there is much work to be done, physically and mentally.

I felt bad that I had nothing to physically deliver to help out when I went down. I was able to collect over $3000 from friends the week that the storm hit. I was able to purchase NEW items for all ages and sizes (clothing, toiletries, business attire, etc.) as well as send clothing that I owned. The items were shipped to Dallas, Tupelo, Jackson, Galveston and Birmingham. This past week, I was empty handed and felt really bad about that, especially since I see that little to NOTHING has been done.

Maybe my pictures will give another view/eye of what is still needed in the areas of the gulf coast, including my HOME STATE of Mississippi, which was even MORE devastated by the storm. I still plan on going back home to the gulf coast area and helping out. I think that with continued communication and individual support, the affected families may be able to get back on their feet…..I pray daily that that is the case…