Actually, I’m at work. *sigh*

BUT….I was reading my horoscope….

and….

it said, “Follow your bliss”.

So….IF I were to “follow my bliss”….

I would be

569 miles away from here

569.31 miles to be exact……

*sigh*

I know. I need to make travel plans.

And yes, I know…”live every day as if it were your last…”

569 miles….

Now this is how you start a Friday - good music from two of my favorite artists, Jill Scott & Eric Roberson. Oh the places this song takes me. *sigh*

(And um, mysTery, NO - I am NOT gonna tell you where that “place” is. ROFL!!)

Happy Friday ya’ll!

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

It makes absolutely NO sense to try and keep up with “The Joneses” if you are struggling to keep up with the bills.

Recognize. Prioritize.

*shrug*

I’m just saying….

Hope you’re having an AMAZING Saturday.

I am SO feeling this quote right now.

I am SO feeling this way right now.

LIFE.IS.GOOD.

Hell, life is BETTER than “Good”. And I am soaking it up. LOL

I’m loving the new gig. When my manager said “fast-paced”, she wasn’t kidding. Whew! It’s all good though. Love it so much, I applied for it. Yep, considering giving up my contractor status. We’ll see how that goes.

Got bit by a new project idea. Need to sketch it out, add it to the timeline and move back to what’s supposed to be book projects #1 and #2. (I promise. Stop grilling me!)

Get to hang with my babies this weekend. Peanut and his sister, Pumpkin, both had recent birthdays so there’s a party going on this weekend. So a weekend with Princess So Fabulous, Peanut and Pumpkin. Add in a visit from ‘Big Daddy’? Ha! That’s golden ya’ll. *snicker*

And then…there’s…something else…. *blush*

But um, ya’ll don’t need to know nuffin ’bout dat. All YOU need to know is that it’s a beautiful thang. Yes indeed.

Off to work. *spritzing on a little “Happy”, the cologne…to match my current state of mind.*

Happy Thursday!!

Loving Life,
*~* MsJayy *~*

“There are no ordinary moments.”

Read that quote. Read it again.

Move into your day LIVING as though you truly GET that quote, that you truly understand what it means and that you value each and every moment you are given.

It is a blessing. To know that every moment of your day, every moment of your life is beyond the confines of “ordinary”.

After the unexpected deaths of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes this weekend, that quote has fresh meaning for me. After watching my nephew move into the next phase of his life, that quote has fresh meaning. After moving from a semi-dark phase into the light, that quote is definitely on time. Nothing looks or feels the same today. And it shouldn’t because nothing IS the same. Not even me. (Thank God for that! LOL)

“There are no ordinary moments.”

That alone could be my “gratitude list”. Today, it becomes the foundation for that list because there is more - so much more - to add to that list:

1. An ear to “hear” what people are really saying. In the space between the words they speak, in that gap between their thoughts…in the cocoon of their silence.

2. An always grateful heart. Always. Grateful. Always.

3. Discernment.

4. Personal growth and actually being about to see that growth.

5. Missing you. Yes, today I can give thanks for missing you. I don’t always understand it but I realize I don’t have to. While understanding may be fleeting, I am thankful for “missing” you because it mean…you matter to me.

6. My nephew D’s best friend, S. When D was dealing with some choices last week, S sent him a text message to read a specific bible verse. It was so relevant to the situation. S is a good kid and I’m glad he and D are friends.

7. A job that I enjoy and teammates who are easy to work with…even the dude I’ve banned from my workarea (and it’s only been a week!! LOL). Once I work out the parking situation, I’ll be straight. (I’m supposed to take the bus this morning. I’on wanna. LOL Oh well. I’ll get over it.)

Ok, I could continue this list but if I’m going to make my bus, I better get up and get cracking. Enjoy your day.

Living from a grateful heart,
*~* MsJayy *~*

PS. Almost forgot - I’m extra grateful for text messages. LOL Only YOU could make me grateful for that (it’s well known that I’m not fond of texting but for you? It’s like hitting that “EASY” button for Staples. LOL).

** This is too much. First Bernie Mac, now Isaac Hayes. As I think about “Black Moses”, I remember always hearing that “death comes in threes” and I find myself shuddering at that thought. And then I remember. As we were preparing my nephew for his transition from high school student to college student, we received a call that a friend of his from a rival high school had committed suicide. Then came the news of Bernie Mac. And now, Isaac Hayes. I’m at a loss for words. Good thing God hears and understands those wordless prayers. **

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless “Theme From Shaft” won Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said. He was 65.

A family member found him unresponsive near a treadmill and he was pronounced dead an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, according to the sheriff’s office. The cause of death was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show “South Park.”

Steve Shular, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said authorities received a 911 call after Hayes’ wife and young son and his wife’s cousin returned home from the grocery store and found him collapsed in a downstairs bedroom. A sheriff’s deputy administered CPR until paramedics arrived.

“The treadmill was running but he was unresponsive lying on the floor,” Shular said.

The album “Hot Buttered Soul” made Hayes a star in 1969. His shaven head, gold chains and sunglasses gave him a compelling visual image.

“Hot Buttered Soul” was groundbreaking in several ways: He sang in a “cool” style unlike the usual histrionics of big-time soul singers. He prefaced the song with “raps,” and the numbers ran longer than three minutes with lush arrangements.

“Jocks would play it at night,” Hayes recalled in a 1999 Associated Press interview. “They could go to the bathroom, they could get a sandwich, or whatever.”

Next came “Theme From Shaft,” a No. 1 hit in 1971 from the film “Shaft” starring Richard Roundtree.
“That was like the shot heard round the world,” Hayes said in the 1999 interview.

At the Oscar ceremony in 1972, Hayes performed the song wearing an eye-popping amount of gold and received a standing ovation. TV Guide later chose it as No. 18 in its list of television’s 25 most memorable moments. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.

“The rappers have gone in and created a lot of hit music based upon my influence,” he said. “And they’ll tell you if you ask.”

Hayes was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

“I knew nothing about the business, or trends and things like that,” he said. “I think it was a matter of timing. I didn’t know what was unfolding.”

A self-taught musician, he was hired in 1964 by Stax Records of Memphis as a backup pianist, working as a session musician for Otis Redding and others. He also played saxophone.

He began writing songs, establishing a songwriting partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s they wrote such hits for Sam and Dave as “Hold On, I’m Coming” and “Soul Man.”

All this led to his recording contract.

In 1972, he won another Grammy for his album “Black Moses” and earned a nickname he reluctantly embraced. Hayes composed film scores for “Tough Guys” and “Truck Turner” besides “Shaft.” He also did the song “Two Cool Guys” on the “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America” movie soundtrack in 1996.
Additionally, he was the voice of Nickelodeon’s “Nick at Nite” and had radio shows in New York City (1996 to 2002) and then in Memphis.

He was in several movies, including “It Could Happen to You” with Nicolas Cage, “Ninth Street” with Martin Sheen, “Reindeer Games” starring Ben Affleck and the blaxploitation parody “I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka.”

In the 1999 interview, Hayes described the South Park cook as “a person that speaks his mind; he’s sensitive enough to care for children; he’s wise enough to not be put into the ‘whack’ category like everybody else in town — and he l-o-o-o-o-ves the ladies.”

But Hayes angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked his Scientology religion. “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” he said.

Co-creator creators Matt Stone responded that Hayes “has no problem — and he’s cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians.” A subsequent episode of the show seemingly killed off the Chef character.

Hayes was born in 1942 in a tin shack in Covington, Tenn., about 40 miles north of Memphis. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother died and his father took off when he was 1 1/2. The family moved to Memphis when he was 6.

Hayes wanted to be a doctor, but got redirected when he won a talent contest in ninth grade by singing Nat King Cole’s “Looking Back.”

He held down various low-paying jobs, including shining shoes on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis. He also played gigs in rural Southern juke joints where at times he had to hit the floor because someone began shooting.

** I woke up late this morning, fresh from a most delicious dream that I was spinning into a beautifully decadent daydream….when this news landed in my lap. Wow. I am at once surprised and saddened. My prayers go out to The Mac Man’s family, friends, and fans. Heaven just expanded its funnybone. **

Comedian and Chicago native Bernie Mac died early Saturday morning from complications due to pneumonia, his publicist confirmed.

Mac, 50, had been hospitalized for about a week at Northwestern Hospital, according to his spokeswoman. A few years ago, Mac disclosed that he suffered from sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in tissue, most often in the lungs.

The comic born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough could cut an imposing figure. He stood 6-foot-3, was built like a fullback and carried himself with a bouncer’s reticence. But perhaps the strongest weapon in the Chicago comedian’s arsenal was that voice, that amalgam of thought and a delivery that could rise like a tidal wave, outpace a Gatling gun and remained, to his last days, loud and unapologetic.

He wasn’t scared, he told us time and again, to tell anyone what he thought, to say what others were afraid to say. That fearlessness wasn’t always welcome, considering Mac didn’t get his big break until his 30s. But when he did, the comic skyrocketed to success in stand-up, television and the big screen.

Mac shared screen time with some of Hollywood’s larger-than-life leading men, co-starring with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon in the “Ocean’s 11″ remake and subsequent sequels.

Most recently, Mac garnered attention for making unsavory comments at a Barack Obama benefit that the presumptive Democratic candidate had to distance himself from.

Growing up on the South Side a hard-core White Sox fan, Mac discovered early on that he wanted to make a go at being a comedian.

Before his 10th birthday, Mac was performing comedy standup, honing his skills on CTA trains and parks before graduating to well-known haunts like the Regal Theater and the Cotton Club. He came to a realization during those first years as a struggling comic: If he could kill in front of a black crowd, he could kill in any crowd.

“Black audiences are hard,” he told the New York Times in 2002. “You got to come with a little extra to satisfy them.”

He also learned that comedy isn’t a lucrative business when you are starting out. During those lean years in the ’80s, Mac drove a Wonder Bread delivery truck to pay the bills.

Life changed dramatically for Mac when he was 32. He won the Miller Lite comedy search that year and that performance took him to the standup stage, which ultimately led to regular performances on popular shows like HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam.”

In a few short years, he was able to put a stamp on this tell-it-like-it-is brand of comedy that audiences had come to know him for. He was a hit on the stage, delivering sordid tales of his early life growing up on Chicago’s South Side.

His work hit home to the African American audience — his aggressive, brash comedy had a down home feel to it, tackling everything from family life to black romantic relationships — yet Mac was able to cross it over, connecting with a majority entertainment scene.

“When I started in comedy in the clubs in 1977, blacks couldn’t do certain clubs — not because they were segregated. They just didn’t want to put the [black comics] out there. In Los Angeles, the clubs would have a black night. People would say, ‘Why don’t you come by and do something?’ I would say, ‘I’m a comedian — don’t put a title on me.’ Don’t limit yourself. How you start is how you finish,” he told the Tribune in 2007. “If you let people put tags on you, you’ll never be able to remove them. You’ve got to make people respect you. Respect is bigger than dollars and cents.”

Mac got his respect and he gained national attention after his set on HBO’s popular late-night series Def Comedy Jam in 1992. Decked out in a pair of jeans with his face illustrated, graffiti-style, on the right pants leg, Mac expounded on one taboo subject after another, from the benefits of snitching to his prowess in the bedroom.

“I ain’t scared of you [expletive]!” became his signature tagline.

Many took note of the blue comic’s performance, which later led to a bit part in 1992’s “Mo’ Money,” and later an HBO Special, “Midnight Mac.”

In 1995, Mac earned a spot in the cult-classic “Friday,” and the film helped Mac break out. His portrayal of Pastor Clever was one of the film’s highlights, however small it was. He followed it up with bit roles in other films, including “Booty Call,” and “Def Jam’s: How to Be a Player.”

But he wanted more.

Mac sowed the seeds for his success on a cloudy day in North Carolina while taping the 2000 Spike Lee concert film, “The Original Kings of Comedy.” There, on a rain-soaked basketball court, buttressed by co-stars Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey, Mac issued a challenge to Hollywood:

“Do I have a television show? Nah,” Mac told the cameras. “Why? ‘Cause you scared of me, Scared I’m a say something. You [expletive] right. Think I won’t say something?!”

A year later, Mac got his chance. “The Bernie Mac Show” debuted on Fox in November 2001, drawing critical acclaim, numerous awards, including two Emmy nominations for Mac and, most important, high ratings. Its premiere episode drew 11.4 million viewers. The second episode, which immediately followed the first, drew 12.4 million.

For the next four years, Mac spoke to the American public–via a break in the fourth wall a la Dobie Gillis–with all the befuddlement of a 40-something taskmaster father lost in a sea of talk therapy and “timeouts.” “Now, America,” Mac would often begin before going into a rant about undisciplined children, cuddling parents or, one of his favorite topics, the differences between black and white people.

But in 2005, the show went off the air. Several reasons contributed to cancellation: The show’s ratings had dropped, Mac was getting more lucrative offers from the movie studios. Before the 2000 concert film, Mac’s biggest credit was a recurring role on “Moesha.”

But Mac’s health was also a factor. In 2004, he halted production on the show while recovering from exhaustion. A year later, he disclosed that he suffered from sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in tissue, most often in the lungs.

In spite of that, his star had risen a great deal. In addition to the highly popular “Oceans” films, he co-starred with Ashton Kutcher in a reverse remake of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” in 2005.

Last spring, Mac said that he was hanging up his standup career, and instead would focus more on movies. In 2007, he co-starred in “Ocean’s Thirteen,” “Pride” and had a role in the blockbuster “Transformers.”

Scheduled for release is “Soul Men,” with Samuel L. Jackson, which will be released this year, and “Old Dogs,” with Robin Williams, which is due next year.

Mac is survived by his wife Rhonda McCullough, their daughter, Je’Niece, a son-in-law and a granddaughter, Jasmine.

You know who Kevin Trudeau is right?

He of late-night infomercials? (No, not the guy talking about his child’s poop. Isn’t he scary? LOL)

Kevin Trudeau wrote “Medical Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About”.

He’s baaaaaaaccccccckkkkkk!

This time it’s “Debt Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About”.

*SIGH*

In the past, his informercials were set up like an interview or as if he were TV news anchor. THIS time around, it’s “The Hot Seat” - he’s actually the “special guest” in a roundtable talk-show type setup. Trudeau is seated in the middle of the table among four females (who they are is beyond me - other than the fact that one of them was playmate of the year in 2007 I think. *shrug*). Whatever.

The book retails for $29.95 and surprisingly enough, it’s not in bookstores yet. Oh wait, they just played that magic sound - the book is available for a limited time for $19.95!

Lawd, along with all these promises of how you can erase your debt COMPLETELY, this man just said, “IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT THAT YOU’RE IN DEBT”.

Yes, he said it. With a straight face. And a scowl for emphasis.

Jesus be a fence….and a decent FICO score.

*shaking my head*

That’s what I get for being up all times of the night.

Note: I don’t know if anything Trudeau says holds water. I’m sure there’s some element of truth and some valid info in what he writes/says. Howsomever, I don’t think the way to financial freedom is telling folks they are not at fault. Yes, even with all these preditory tactics in play, even with rules/regulations seemingly favoring corporations vs. people.

You know what happens when folks don’t accept their share of responsibility for the state of their lives? They continue to cycle through it.

But then, if we couldn’t find someone to go around in circles in their victimhood and to buy into the “it’s not my fault” mentalit, how would Trudeau, et. all move any products? Oh the irony

I sho’ do wonder what Kevin’s gonna “cure” next.

This is a Public Service Announcement:

Co-signing can be dangerous….whether it’s co-signing a loan….or co-signing someone’s foolish behavior.

Don’t do it! Just say NO!!

That’s one thing I love about my friends. If I’m venting, seeking advice or fishing for cosigning, they tell me what I need to hear. Always.

Don’t let anyone trip you into cosigning foolishness and unnecessary nonsense or drama. Just say NO!!

That is all.

PS - A “real” blog post is coming. Soon. I promise. Just got a bunch of stuff going right now…new job, book stuff, you know - the usual suspects. LOL

Happy Friday!!