2011 : Resolutions and all inclusives

I'm going to again bring attention to how much of a delinquent I am. I should be more than regular since I am on vacation, especially since I grumble about being bored every 5 - 10 minutes. Lord knows I have stuff to do but I'm too lazy to think of them. For instance, my room looks like an atomic bomb exploded in there and instead of flames and fumes, there were clothes and shoes and nail polish and perfume and accessories. I can't show you a picture cause I too shame. I will however show you an after picture...maybe...as soon as it gets cleaned. 


The prodigal daughter has returned!! I am back home in my lovely lovely Antigua! Can you believe I've almost been here a week and I have not been to the beach ONCE?! My friends and the weather suck balls eggs. I have however been to one of my old haunts places I frequented every so often. But that's about it party wise. I've been staying home and sleeping. And boy have I slept. In bed by 11 and so! And I did not wake up till midday I had to go to church . Anyways, since I've been home I've been bombarded with inquires as to whether I was going to this or that all inclusive. The first was Under the Mistletoe. I'm not going to lie. It did not appeal to me, whatsoever. I really didn't want to be bothered with the hassle of looking for something to wear, worrying bout my hair blah blah blah. I came home with the mindset that the first all inclusive I was going to was Nocturnal. And so my ass stayed home. What I noticed on facebook however was the amount of people griping, bitching, moaning and so on and so forth about people who spend their money going to an all inclusive. 


As one of the biggest advocates of clothes and shoes/food (reusables vs non reusables) I have to draw my allegiance away from the "Spending 100+ on a party is stupid" camp. Around the time of every all inclusive there is a group of people who bitch on facebook (you can put all the squiggly lines you want under facebook I WILL NOT capitalize it byeotch) saying "Oh they're wasting their money" (and other variations of this) and it also happens around Carnival time when it comes to mas. My question for all them people whinging about how people spend their own money is "Is it your facking money?"Did you work for 3 months, 3 years or however long to give these people this money only or them to squander (in your opinion) it on an activity that lasts a few hours? No? Well in that case....STFU! 


IT IS NOT YOUR FACKING MONEY. 


You did not break your back, sweat blood and tears, nor forgo all pleasurable activities for 6 months to give these people this money. These people worked (or stole) the money and they obviously have no qualms in spending it on a ticket/outfit/mas costume. So what if they have to live on bread and butter till they get their next pay cheque? They're happy! So what if they have to scrape and search and probably whore out to get next month's rent? It's their money and they're happy. As far as I'm concerned it's nobody's business as to what I do with MY money. I think people would be a lot more agreeable and a lot happier if they each just minded their own business and stop commenting on what other people do with their money. At the end of the day they are happy with their decision or at the time they are enjoying their event  (hunger is no joke - I would know). Maybe if you would stop bitching and go find something that you enjoy to do with your money  then you would be so happy you wouldn't have time to notice what other people do with their money. I'm a Carnival baby and I love me some all inclusives (well all you can drink). Yes, they count as non reusables but I have the memories and the time I've shared with my friends. Ok it's not your thing. Fine! That's great for you, but don't be on our cases for spending our money how we like. That would be like making fun of you for spending your money on a new laptop, or a new shoes or staying home and watching tv (LOSAAAARR) . At the end of the day, it makes no sense and the moral of the story is to mind ya own damn business. 


My second issue is the omnipresent New Year's Resolution. Every year (since at least 2005) I've made a resolution to stop cursing. I try every year and by 10 AM on January the 1st, I'm either cursing in my head, out loud or under my breath I quickly gave up. I really and truly respect people who make and stick to a resolution. The saying goes : Old habits die hard. There's never been a truer saying. What I think would work is if I set smaller goals for myself. Like cursing less instead of not cursing at all. (click here) 


WRONG. I tried that at the beginning of the year to no avail. I still curse more or less like a sailor. I will keep  trying though. If my child's first word is a curse I'm going to jump off the Empire State Building.  My second resolution is to stop shopping! I have a problem. I genuinely do. At first I thought I had an actual actual problem. like one that needed a psychiatrist and stuff buuuut, I did some research, and took a few evaluative test, with which I credit myself for being completely honest, and I do not have an actual actual problem. I just have a minor self control issue. As I mentioned in my previous post I tired to avoid places where I would buy stuff aaaand it worked, until I started to take advantage of online shopping. Any time I see free shipping I go batshit crazy. That's my new resolution. Well one of them. The easier one I think. 


Before I go, I do remember that I had promised in my last post that in my next post I would add a picture of my hair so far. It's all fuzzy, but my friend hooked me up :). She's got mad skills yo. So without further adieu...here's ma hurr!

Baci 


Nneka

Shake up ya natty...

I really am a delinquent. I know. There are two things that I haven't done. 1) Post regularly or according to a schedule. My excuse is...I'm a student =D and I have exams and I should be studying now actually. But I, having to study, wanted a distraction of course. 2) I'm writing this and I have no audience lol. I haven't really told any one I'm writing a blog save one (hiiii Mali!). I dunno why. Well I do. I don't want people to think I just jumped on the blog bandwagon. I actually intend to keep this like my own little online journal (not VERY personal lol) And another thing I haven't really figured out the direction of my blog yet. I know I don't want it to be about hair alone (I am not my hair). So maybe, sometime in the near future (2011?) I will post the link to my blog on facebook and see what happens. 


Soooo, as you may or may not, I have started the long, grueling, arduous process of locking my hair. I'm not going to lie, what attracted me most to locks is the fact that I wouldn't have to comb my hair...ever. You can call me nasty if you want, but I was always a "nasty"child. I gave trouble to comb it, wash it, grease it...everything! Especially combing though. But locks = no combing... yay! 100 points. Another factor that attracted me to the locks is the variety of styles that you can do. You think you need permed hair to do crazy ish? Nuh uh. In my free time (meaning time I should have been studying) I have been perusing the interwebs and finding all kinda cool things to do with your locks. Beyond the normal colouring, there are so many creative styles to do that make me feel all tingly inside. Check these out 

The last is my favourite :). Those hairstyles are what I aspire to do in the (distant it seems) future. For now, I am struggling with my baby/starter locks as everyone who starts locks is wont to do. Luckily I didn't have the grief that some people suffer with, with having really short hair as I thought it fortuitous to grow out my hair before I started to lock it. So right now it's like almost 5 inches when its bouncy and 6 when stretched. Awesome ^_^. 

 I started off with a two strand twist about a month ago. When I went back to my loctician three weeks after she first twisted my hair, she palm rolled it and eureka! it started looking locksical (it's totally a word). They were pinned up in a style comme so : 

The top looking locksical 

The back looking locksical. Check out my blinged phone yo! (ignore the bath towel) 

But alas! The hair pins defeated me and it came down. They stayed neatish for about 24 hours. No lie. Then the fluff began! I have since washed my hair again and tried twisting it myself and my roomie, Sheba, helped me twist them up into a style. I haven't taken a picture yet. But for my next post that will be my first order of business. I pwomise! The twisting/rolling is being defeated by Nneka's uncooperative hair! Unfortunately I have no money to go to the hairdresser now so I shall be seeking alternative methods for my hair to stay neat, especially since I have a Christmas party to attend. Anyways that's all for now folks! (copyright? lol) 

Bisous 

Nneka

School Blues

Aloha!


I really wanted to try and post at least once a week, but school and other factors (my laptop) were working against me. I don't know why :(. But anyways, I'll try and be more diligent with my blog posts.


What I wanted to write about were school blues (duh). About what happens (in my opinion) when you're almost finished with your degree and you feel less than thrilled about the path you have pursued. I can speak about this in great detail because I am unfortunately in that sort of predicament. As I type I'm listening to a mix done by one of my friends who is also studying law but from the dedication he put into the mix, would have been happier being a DJ. You know, if it was a real job. Don't get me wrong, of course being a DJ is a real job. When you're saving up for a new phone. Or maybe a vacation, or just something to do over the summer. Can you really see anyone being a DJ full time saying they're saving up to buy a house? Or a car? Most DJ's these days, do it as a side job. It's something they are passionate about, so they can get to be themselves on the weekends or at night, when they escape from The Man  the grind. Most times they do it so they can have a little extra cash in their pockets. I think I'straying though. My predicament is something of the sort, except I have no side job (anyone looking for a personal shopper?) Once I complete my law degree, I will be doing that. Law. Why? Well, I have a slight penchant for spending money like it was the last day on Earth. It's a habit that, I've tried breaking, by staying away from the places that would tempt me to spend money. But that only works for physical stores. Curse you online shopping. My point is, I studied law because it was the easiest (I use this in the loosest possible sense)  path to get what I want (money and lots). My inner dialog  went something like this:


 I love to shop! How can I shop lots? You need money! How do you make money in the Caribbean besides medicine or banking  (no stomach for blood, no head for numbers) ? Why, law of course! Proceeds with law! This is fun!  I hate it D:. But I want money. Curses! Sigh. *sucks it up and continues to study*.


My predicament is clear nuh true. But why didn't you try an alternative you may ask. I suck at everything. Lol. I lie. I am passionate about something. It's fashion. But, but, fashion designers make money. They have items that the price is on request for (a.k.a if you have to ask you can't afford it). But, I suck at drawing D:. Journalism? You could be a fashion writer! Sike. I'd be in the same position as law for one thing and for another, I wouldn't be able to live in the Caribbean which I shan't ever stray from (except when I retire and live in a chateau in France lol). So in order to stay in the Caribbean, and make money so I can spend it, I must suck it up and do law. Nothing is more disheartening of course, and I do feel a tad bit guilty that perhaps I, in choosing to do law and it wasn't my ULTIMATE passion, crushed someone else's dreams. How? Well, my country, Antigua, only accepts two people each year to pursue a law degree. Could it be possible that I, being better qualified than a person who absolutely wanted to study law, shoved them out of the way? Immediately following this thought, I'm not going to lie, I thought "tough luck, survival of the fittest". 


Now don't get me wrong. I do like law a little. Not über much. But a little. Why I chose the path in the first place when I was obviously good at something else (biology, but remember the whole blood thing, yick) was because I was enchanted by the world of  *drumroll* real estate. It's kind of like a mixture of law and shopping. but with houses and land. :O Eureka. A compromise. Until then, until I have money in my bank account to run around maniacally and spend  have purchasing power equal to no man, I have to put my head down and continue to study. Which is where I leave you. 


Besos  


Nneka

Bienvenue!

Hello all! 

For my first blog, I'm going to basically explain why I started blogging and also start with my first rant! A little introduction is necessary. I'm a 20 year old law student at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. I'm in my final year and I decided that I should make a big change in my life. I tried piercings and even though I still have them they are sort of additional and not a change to the core me. I can take them out and let them close up and eventually people will forget I had them. Then again I haven't tried a facial piercing :o (another time for that.) Anyways I decided that I was going to lock my hair and document the process. 

I started transitioning (big word for going au naturel and going cold turkey off the cream crack) in my second semester in my first year. I started braiding my hair, using the afro kinky braids which I felt suited me (and many people agreed) most. When I went home that summer I cut all of the straightened ends off. Most had broken off already leaving my natural hair but the more resilient ones had to go down with a pair of scissors. I'm not going to demoniae perming your hair. The ease of handling it to leave the house was ah-mazing, and it works really well for people who take really good care of their hair. Well, my hair just didn't like the creamy crack. I had my ups and (mostly) downs but it was an experience. 

I've decided to go back to my nappy days. The days when my hair was so thick, my mother (and grandmother and aunt and father) and I would fight to get it to stay in a way that wouldn't make me look like a chimney sweep.I missed those days, to an extent, not the brawls and showdowns to wash, comb, grease, brush, braid or plait my hair, but the days when my hair was so thick I could grab a handful and be like "Mine! Mine! Alll Mine! bahahahahha". Ahem. Anyways, my hair has been growing like how it grew when I was younger. They say your hair texture is supposed to change once you have permed your hair then transitioned but really and truly, it's still thick, still hard, still grows fast. 

My first rant is how I take care (or lack thereof) my hair. Right now, I am swearing by the  Jamaica Mango & Lime Hair Products . Its like a bottled oasis for my hair. Love the tingle shampoo and the tingle GREASE and the protein cholesterol conditioner and all that jazz. I have seen many a natural hair blog demonising grease and products with mineral oil; "Mineral oil is bad!", "Petroleum locks moisture out of your hair!" and so on. I'm not going to deny any scientific evidence (once I get some) to support the above claims. My main argument to the above is that those products were the ones that I was using on my hair before I started perming it. And my hair was, thick and luscious and moisturized. I put GREASE on my scalp, never on my hair, and whatever minerals and blah blah were in it worked its way through to my entire hair shaft and gave me soft, comb-able, manageable hair. I will swear by those products till I am hoarse and what I think all the blogs about hair care fail to recognize that what's good for one isn't necessarily good for all. Yes, there are people whose hair will react badly to the mineral oil or petroleum or whatever, but my hair drinks it up and stays moisturized. (my hair drinks everything by the way - its like a freaky super absorbent cloth. Shamwow anyone?)

Anywho, that's basically the end of my first rant. Everyone who is natural please stop demonising how other people take care of their hair. stop passing judgement. What's good for you will not necessarily be good for me and vice versa. 

Oh, one more thing. My blog isn't going to be entirely about hair, so not to worry. I'll rant about anything that comes to mind as soon as I get inspiration to do so. 

Peace, love and watermelon!

Nneka