Eight ways to win my heart (Day 3 of the tumblr challenge)

On this third day of the tumblr challenge, I realized that... I still can't get http://shaquanamonet.tumblr.com/ to look quite the way I want it to. I'm not gonna pout though, I'll keep hope alive as I move on to day three of the tumblr challenge, which is to list Eight ways to win your heart.


I should preface this by saying I had to ask for help. I had to look at the common denominator of each of my exes... This is my conclusion

Day 2 of the Ten Day Tumblr challenge

So, I took the plunge, getting more involved with my tumblr acct, and actually getting the hang of it. You can see what I'm up to at http://shaquanamonet.tumblr.com Day Two of the tumblr challenge however, is to share Nine things about yourself which is actually pretty hard, since I shared 25 things about myself on Facebook already. I'll try to think of new ones...

1. I'm obsessed with 3 major things in life: MICHAEL J. JACKSON; purple {yes, I'm obsessed with just about any and everything purple}; and living a life filled with passion. Embrace everything you love!
2. I love really high heels. I break them in by blasting my music and dancing while I clean my house. FYI: spending the whole day sweeping, mopping, doing laundry, etc. in 5+ inch heels hurts. But when you're in the clubs looking cute, you'll appreciate it.
3. I fully intend to release my autobiography and have Oprah interview me about it on her network. Prime-time slot, no commercials. This book is gonna be big time baby!
4. My cat is the closest thing to a child I'm gonna have, for at least another decade. As such, I spoil the hell out of him. Treats, toys, free reign. He has it all. My pookie is the cutest thing (after me of course)
5. I run kinda hot/cold. I either really love you, or can't stand you. I know that's a terrible mindset, and I'm breaking myself of it. Still a tedious work in progress though
6. I want to raise my children in a culture completely different from mine. Mainly, because I want them to either have amazing British or Caribbean accents. Or, speak another (native) language like Spanish or Italian.
7. Speaking of children, that's another thing I run hot & cold on. I either want 10 kids (twins, triplets, triplets, twins. In that order). Or none at all. By the time I'm married and ready to have kids, modern medicine better be on f*cking point. If they can't assure me that I can have multiple births and each child will be born healthy and carried to term? I ain't havin' none
8. I want to live on each continent for at least a year. I'm most excited about both Africa (Ethiopia and South Africa to be exact) and Australia
9. This literally took me all day to write. I feel like everything I'm comfortable with sharing, has already been shared. The juicy, dramatic stuff? Well, you'll have to read my book and watch the Oprah interview for ^_^

Tumblr 10 day challenge - Day one

Tumblr is becoming ever popular, and there are various "Tumblr" challenges circling the interwebs. They last different days, and each day is supposed to be some profound entry, giving people an 'in' to your mind. Some of the things that people have shared are so personal and touching, it almost feels like you know them and you just want to comfort them. I found one that seems pretty cool; plus it's only 10 days as opposed to 30 *insert "hell yeah" here*. I decided to import some of the entries from http://shaquanamonet.tumblr.com/ to right here on blogspot. The theme of the first day is "Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now". Staying true to my vow not to out anybody on this blog, there will be no names. The identities can be inferred, pretty simply I think. "Without further adieu:  

Introduction to my hair

I've become totally obsessed with my hair. It wasn't intentional, actually I feel uncomfortable with long hair. Instead, it began as a purely philanthropic cause: donating my own "ethnic hair" to Locks of Love. And, maybe a challenge for myself too. Allow my hair to grow to my waist, just to prove I can. I started the process about 2 years ago, July 2008. I remember the rush I felt, logging onto hair boards and seeing black women sharing hair tips and advice, with no malice or jealousy. Lurking on hair boards gave me the quasi-support I felt I need. As a life-long natural who had NO idea how to tame my curly, dry 3B/C mane, I drank up all the product junkie Kool-Aid. I couldn't tell you how much time, money and effort went into my head (literally lol).

me, Halloween '08 *excuse the pouty face lol*

But, through it all I persevered. Two blonde dye jobs later, an (expensive) Brazilian Keratin Treatment and trial and error with my routine have gotten me right on track. My hair is about 1/2-1 inch away from bra strap length, and people are coming to me for advice about their tresses. From time to time, I'll be sharing my practices with you. Hopefully, someone out there will be inspired to take control and better care of their hair.

*blog post on how I cleared my acne in the works =]*

Free Form (rambling) Thoughts (FFT), part I

Every so often, I get so many disjointed, rambling thoughts in my head at once that i just feel the need to let them out. They're in no particular order, and tend to be pretty selfish. Here's a peek into my psyche:

--> I really want those noise canceling headphones. What's more important, my cheapness frugality or the ability to concentrate while doing HW/readings on the train?

<-- How am I gonna tuck my hair up under the wig that I want? Jeez, what if it doesn't look good on me?

--> How come every time I start doing things, it becomes hot? I talked about my online courses, now EVERYBODY is doing it. Damnn, let me rock.

<-- these Hebrew lessons are on the back burner. I should register with a synagogue to keep me on track

--> "Good riddance to bad rubbish"

<-- How much does a pug puppy cost?

--> I have a belly dancing kit somewhere in my room. Castanets, mood music... Great ab workout. I should get on that


<-- Does e*Harmony really work?! I keep joking that I'm gonna sign up. Maybe I really should...

--> I need a pedicure

<-- I think I'm over the 'Blue Hawaii' drink at BBQ's. Seriously, it's overkill at this point.

--> Can you pledge a sorority in grad school?

<-- How early is too early to make up Christmas lists and start scooping out deals?

--> I wanna go to Atlantic City this weekend. Too much on my plate to make that feasible. But, still

<-- I'm hungry

--> When I was younger, there were more left-handed gadgets. Hell, even Ned Flanders had the leftorium

September 24th, 2010

So, my life is pretty random. That was the whole point of me starting a blog,to share all the 'huh?' stuff I see on an everyday basis. Let's take today for example. I wake up (late) and look out the window. I see people walking up & down the block wearing long sleeved shirts and/or jackets. I don't look at the weather reports, ever. So, I take the outfits I see as an indication of how today feels. I rush around, get dressed in a long sleeved, ribbed black shirt and jeans; and race out the door. Once I get outside, I realize ITS HOT! Okay, I'm already late, so there's no time to change. I make it to the salon and realize I'm even later than I thought. The wax lady takes me into the room and fixes me up. Along the way, she tells me to 'man up' and that 'it doesn't hurt so bad. You're 21, you should be used to it by now'. Honestly, it doesn't hurt AS much, but it still effin hurts. I leave her salon, smooth (albeit still in pain). Now I have to run down to the OTHER side of the highway, to pay my phone bill. Its 10 looong blocks, and this black shirt isn't making things better.

I get to to the place, pay my bill and realize I have to walk 7 blocks back the way I just came from to get to the train station. Oyy. So, I trudge along, picking up a bottle of soda (eww) for $2.19 (wtf? Why so expensive?) So now, $3 is all the money I have left in this world. [Side note: if any of you are interested in sponsoring a hungry brown child,

Whip My Hair

So, I'm like obsessed with this song. It's called "Whip My Hair", and its by Willow Smith (as in, the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith)



This is just the teaser video, and in my not so humble opinion... it's good enough to be the actual video. Hell, I've been searching the internet for ways to be in the video lol. Usually, if a 9 year old girl had a song with lyrics such as" "Hop up out the bed turn my swag on. Pay no attention to them haters cuz we whip em off; and we aint doing nothing wrong. So dont tell me nothing, i'm just tryna have fun, so keep the party jumping", I'd be one of the first talking about how grown she is. But this song is just so fun, you don't get that feeling. It's a feel good message, and the song is stuck on repeat in my head. May just be my back to school anthem.

Best frienemies forever (BFF)

Sasha was my best friend in high school. We went through all of the things that high school best friends share with each other. Told secrets that nobody else knew (even to this day), invited the other to our homes. Worried about the future. Yet, I always felt like I was more of a friend to her than she was to me. That feeling gnawed at the back of my mind, yet i never let it stop me from fulfilling my duties as a bestie. Whenever Sasha had a problem, my phone was always on and I would always answer. Dragging her out of her house when she needed to be cheered up. Offering my dorm room as a refuge when she wanted to escape her family for the weekend.

 As usually happens, we somewhat drifted apart as we went to different colleges, made new friends, new relationships. One day, as I was at her house, she dropped a bombshell on me. She was dating this kid... that had made me sad for a period of time in high school. At first, I thought she was joking, because in her own words, he was evil! When it dawned on me that she was totally serious, I felt that nagging feeling again.

September 13, 2010 3:17pm

This morning, I woke up to loud banging outside my door. Like, LOUD banging. I get up and see some people down the hall, banging on my neighbors door. There's other people screaming outside of that neighbors window also. So I'm all confused, wondering where my mom and step dad are. As if on cue, my mother comes through the door. She tells me that her and my step dad were up early this morning, and they thought that something was rotting. As she was on her way into the building, a maintenance worker asked her when was the last time we saw our elderly neighbor. His family members were here, and they called the cops to break into the house to check on him. He died, all alone inside his apartment. I'm not sure what the medical cause is, the medical examiner isn't even here yet to legally declare him dead. In my opinion, I think he died of a broken heart. His long-time girlfriend recently died after a long bout with illness. They were both older people, and relied on each other for just about everything. After she passed about a month or so ago, he began to stay inside much more often.


In all honesty though, I don't know too much about the man. Hell, I don't even know his name! Which, makes me sad. I mean, how much do we really know about the people living around us? Back in the days, our families lived in communities. Now, we just live in neighborhoods. Ever changing, due to gentrification and the deterioration of family bonds in general makes me sure that I'm not the first person to be living next door to a dead human being without even being aware of it. So, his death has inspired me. I'm going back to my roots, community activism. Even have an event tonight. This is too unsettling to not fix

I'm a social media whore...

My name is Shaquana, and I'm addicted to social networks.

Whew, that's the first time I admitted that out loud, not joking around. As I type this article, I'm actively tweeting, trying to figure out my tumblr account and wondering why Facebook chat isn't working. Off the top of my head, I have 7 accts on networking sites.  (In order: Sconex, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, blogspot and  tumblr.) For the most part, I don't even use all of them and I have different alias' on each (my BBM name is Cinnamon Swirl if I remember correctly).
 So what is it about out generation that we have to keep in such contact with each other?

9/11/2010 pt I

Its hard to believe that its been 9 yrs since the attack on America. Like every New Yorker, and every American; I remember exactly where I was on that day. I was sitting in my 7th grade theater class, when there was a knock at the door. My teachers father also worked in the school, as a janitor. His father came in, and whispered something in his ear. My teachers face drained and he just said "Seriously?" A few of my classmates started getting called over the loudspeaker to come to the office a short time later.

Now, putting things into perspective: I was a precocious 7th grader, wrapped up in the drama of middle school. The day before, a few of the kids had gotten into a fight on the bus after school. They'd all gotten in trouble, and been told that it'd be dealt with the next day. So, in my next class the English teacher asked if any of us had heard what was going on. And, in my typical smart ass fashion, I replied "all the kids in that fight yesterday are getting suspended". He replied no, and told us that 'terrorists' had flown planes into the twin towers. Looking back, I had no idea what time this was. We were safe in our prepubescent cocoon. Terrorists? What the hell was a terrorist? Who were they? Why would they fly planes into a building?! HOW did they do it? The kids all talked amongst ourselves while our teachers conversed. These teachers were in their late 20's/early 30's. They were just as confused as we were.

The classes were emptying faster & faster as parents came to pick up their children. I heard my name, and just knowing that my mommy was there to save me settled some of the anxiety in my stomach. She hugged me when I made my way to the office, but ignored all of my questions about what was happening.

I live all the way in Coney Island, the southern-most tip of Brooklyn. My junior high was mere blocks from my house. And as my mother grabbed my hand and dragged me as fast as she could back to our apartment, it was snowing. This was a sunny September day, and all this powdery debris was floating down all around us. All these years later, that moment still stands out to me the most. Was that white powder drifting down on us paper? Steel? Was it the people that had perished and burned in a fiery death? A combination? The streets were empty, and white from the falling chunks. My mom and I passed by a group of cabbies, that had assembled in the streets, huddled together talking. They were Muslim, and my heart went out to them. From the bits and pieces of overheard information at school, Muslim extremists were behind the act and I knew it wouldn't be long before they would feel the wrath of wanna be vigilantes.

Home, safe. Or were we? The biggest fear for all Americans was "is it over?". Turning on the TV, I saw the images that we see every year on this day. A plane flying ever closer to one of the towers. Both of the towers on fire. The tower imploding. People leaping from buildings, because there was no way for rescue workers to reach them. Can you imagine, jumping from 110 stories high because the only alternative is dying in the inferno behind you? By this time, the media was reporting that there had also been an attack on the Pentagon and that some brave passengers had thwarted another attack and the plane that had been hijacked had crashed in Pennsylvania. Was someone going to come and drop bombs next? As a 12 year old scared to hell, my imagination dreamt up the most horrific things. My mother was trying to stay calm. At that time, my uncle was working for Morgan Stanley, and the office was in tower 2. Phone lines were jammed, with people trying to call and locate family members. Wait, my dad! Where was he? Did grandma make it home? One of my aunts called, on a borrowed cell phone. She and a bunch of strangers had run for their lives from their downtown Manhattan offices and were walking across the Brooklyn Bridge home. She'd call us when she got to Coney Island.

I was lucky. I didn't lose any friends or family on that day. But, September 11th changed everything about our lives. Donating food and supplies, seeing people volunteer at Ground Zero, being selfless and uniting as a nation helped us to recover from the devastation. Patriotism was at an all time high, with people uniting (out of spite?) to say "We Will Survive. We will get over this, and we will be better than ever". It wasn't the only thing that changed. Everyday, and in every way the innocence and naïvete that I had, that we all had as a nation, was shattered. We now know that America isn't invincible. That at any moment, our world can be shaken up by an outside force. That race & religion are once again the basis for discrimination.