Putting all your cards on the table for 2020

Next year is going to be the year of me really pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

The first big thing is getting a stable 9 to 5. I know that sounds crazy but I’m looking for an office job 9 to 5 with insurance,401k with all the fixing that’s not in sales or in food. I love customer service and am good at sales, but I don’t like the whole quota system that my company has set up. I also don’t care about it all. If I could just do the I.T. side of my job I would be the happiest. I like helping people, but the U.S. ideal of “the customer is always right” doesn’t work with technology. Specs are specs, and if you’re wrong you’re wrong.

Disrespect is one of the many reasons I’ll be happy to go. But as far as living in the States I really only worked in retail, and when I’m abroad I have only taught English. And I would start searching now but I’m going to enjoy these last two holidays of this year before I start running toward something else.

The job hunt is going to real, and not just that I want to really figure out what I love, and I know that will probably take some time. So in the meantime, I want to take some Coursera courses to figure out what I like. I know I like taking things apart and putting them back together. The thing is I don’t know enough about computers to make it into an I.T. a job. I also don’t know what I want to do, so I’m working on it.

Aside from that, I would love to finish my book by the end of next year. It needs to be a minimum of thirty chapters. But I’ve only gotten like five concrete chapters and about ten in bits and pieces.I’m only having a hard time figuring out the ethnicity of my main character but I think I’m sure of what I want to do now. Not only that I will have to find a publisher.
I believe in this new season guys, it’s going to be amazing.

Ewe word of the week

Fofo-father or older brother

Week 1 [12.12.2019]

So essentially there are a lot of good habits that I want to make in my life. So instead of waiting until the new year. I decided that if I want to make a change I need to start now. So I made a plan I wanted to do daily, weekly, and monthly and yearly plans.

Here are my plans.

So of my daily things, things I don’t have much to do and yet I have still managed to fail on most of them. I do start my day off with water. Which is nice. At the same time, I haven’t managed to drink double or even the same amount of water that I do soda.But then again some days I don’t have any soda at all and only have juice so I guess it’s not a total failure.

As far as a face routine… I haven’t done any research to find a good day or night cream. I wash, tone, moisturize and that is all.

Well as far as weekly stuff, I’ve forgotten to journal at all this week. And for the all November as honestly. I haven’t been studying Ewe, Korean, or French. I did moisturize like a third of my hair so I guess that counts for something. I wrote a blog post. I also have been working out every day. So with that added, my average with everything is low, but overall it’s ok-ish.

Monthly things are half and half so far. I did a facemask but I haven’t done a deep conditioner, I still have time thou

Monthly things are half and half so far. I did a facemask but I haven’t done a deep conditioner, I still have time though.

And as far as yearly stuff is concerned, I made a dentist appointment and I saved a little money, so that’s a win overall.

So I feel like I haven’t done as well as I could but it’s only the first week.

Learning Ewe

I’ve decided I want to learn at least one language from most of the major continents, and two from Africa.

So as far as Africa I have decided that I wanted to start by learning Ewe. Now you are probably wondering why Ewe.

Well, I’ve been very interested in Ghana for some time now, and this is one of the languages spoken there. It’s also spoken in Togo and Benin.

You are probably thinking that if you were to learn an African language why Ewe, why not Igbo, Yoruba or Swahili. There are a lot of language choices out there, but I am choosing languages from the two countries I am the most interested in, Ghana and Nigeria, so the second language, I’ll start learning later will probably be Yoruba. Though I’m not sure yet.

But I am sure about the Ghanian language, I’ve chosen Ewe. I’m mainly choosing it because it’s a challenge…

With millions of people speaking it you would think that there would at least be some literature about it, but sadly no. At least none that I have access to in The States. I have found a Peace Corp course and one children’s book. And that’s something that I really want to change . I find that I like research and I thought this would be super fun. To not only study a little known language but also bring awareness of this …

I would love to make an African based language learning app.I’m slowly but surely working on that. But that’ll take some time.

Wish me luck.

Finding a career in your thirties is hard Part 1

A lot of people spent their twenties perfecting their skills so that they could have an awesome career, but I can’t say I did that at all.

I did go to university ….and I received a degree in film theory.
As soon as I graduated I left the country to go teach abroad. I had dreams of going to Asia and I did it. I got accepted into EPIK and spent three years teaching elementary school students. It will probably always be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I did what I want I made great friends and I had fun.

And then I came back home worked retail and left again.

The second experience was in Colombia and it was for only ten months. I can say it was the longest ten months of my life. It also taught me a lot about myself, but I can’t say that I enjoyed it. Sometimes life’s like that and now I’m back.

Back for good.

But what does one do?

Everyone always tells me that I should teach. But all I have 120 TEFL certificate and that’s not the same as a teaching degree. And honestly, I don’t want to teach here. Yes rewarding but underpaid, underappreciated, and spending out of my pocket isn’t the life I want. I don’t have a heart of gold, it’s more like a nice stainless steel.
I’m hard working and have a good work ethic but I have no idea where to apply. I am working full time but this in the States, we all know that you can’t live off of full time at minimum wage anywhere.

So the goal is to find something rewarding to do, that gives me insurance and good pay.

The hardest decision I’m having with my book

So I’m working on a YA novel about …

A senior in high school …

I know I know it doesn’t sound like anything new but it’s the perspective that I’m going for, a young black nerdy teenage girl. It sounds really simple, but as I read my weight in books as a kid. There were no stories about girls like me. So that’s what I’m going for, a diary styled version of a blerdy girl moving to a new place but that’s not my dilemma.

My dilemma is my main characters cultural identity.

I keep hopping between Black American and a second-generation African(I’m deciding between three countries), Black American mix. And although these may sound similar it’s a different experience. The Black American side would be written the same. Southern Black American culture is what I know, it’s the basic building blocks of me.

But Being second-generation African-American mixed with Black-American is different, there are many layers. Being a part of Black American culture and figuring out where you fit in while having a side of the family on a different continent. Being very African and at the same time being very much a Black American all at the same time. To be honest, this is a duel identify that I don’t ever see people mentioning.

I see lots of first-generation American stories. I see a lot of interracial teenage stories and stories about people from different tribes within the same country getting together, but never any inter-cultural relationships between African Americans and Black Americans or even African and Black Americans honestly.I’ve seen triple the number of stories about Nigerian men bringing home a white woman than I have about Nigerian men bringing home a Black American woman. Which would in most cases be just as much as a culture shock. And yet no one explores these stories.

The conundrum is that I feel like there is a big need for Black American stories that delve beyond the norm. It’s a difficult choice because this character is much more of my baby than me …

They say if you see a story that is unwritten then it is your place to write it. There’s an empty space and I’m gonna fill it with my pen.

Wish me luck.

(I’m using Black-American as a term to define those whose ancestors were brought to the U.S. during the transatlantic slave trade. And African American as the term for someone who came from the continent after the slave trade)

Things I want to do in 2020 [updated]

Find a new job paying minimum $14 an hour.

Perfect my Mac and Cheese.

Make a list of every comic I own.

Have twenty chapters of my book written.

Beat all my Fire Emblem games.

Have a minimum of 15 solid recipes written down.

Finish the death series of the Discworld series.

Buy a Sho Baraka’s album preferably the romance one.

Owe less than a $1000 on my student loan.

Get my license.

Make a solid workout routine.

Finish 2 new Mark Batterson books.

Make new friends.

Call my great uncles and aunts more frequently.

Buy a kotatsu.

Do at least two short stories based on Lupe Fiasco’s songs or concept album.

Fast at least two times.

Own all C.S.Lewis’s books on theology.

Bribe my grandfather to do 23andme.

Do an ancestory.com test.

Buy more fresh vegetables.

Start planning my first trip to the west coast of Africa.

Do at least three cosplays.

Things I wish I would I had known at eighteen

That school isn’t the most important thing in the world.

That the art I do is valuable even if it never makes me a single cent.

That my hair is a plant it needs lots of moisture and sunlight.

That learning a trade or having a skill is often more important than a degree.

Being married is an added bonus but shouldn’t be a goal in life.

Join more clubs in college. Invite more people in, you’ll find those who are worth it.

If you download a camera app make sure those pics are being backed up.

Don’t fight for relationships that would die if you never picked up the phone.

That trying to study something you hate for money, is NEVER worth it.

Sometimes the people you think you’ll be friends with forever, sometimes leave you for no reason. And you have to accept that and move on.

If anyone ask you to do something that they know you’re uncomfortable with in the name of love. Reconsider the whole relationship.

Dating is great and overrated all at the same time.It’s a lovable anigma.

That learning to be happy and comfortable while single will be one of your greatest accomplishments. One that few people master.

That being a good honest friend even when it hurts will always be one of your most rewarding features.

Don’t fight so hard to be grown, it’s gonna happen and you’re gonna hate paying bills. HATE IT.

Journal more, looking back on yourself at different points in your life, will help you to move forward.

The main weakness in being quick witted is that you often don’t think about how your words effect people.

It’s hard to care when you offend someone and you can’t understand why they’re are hurting.Especially when it’s not your intention, don’t be indifferent, I know it’s difficult.But remember the C.K. quote. “When a person tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t.” Be genuine and apologize (that’s your responsibility in this) and if the person decides they can’t get over it.Grow in the knowledge you tried to repair it,take a note on the words fro future peoples feelings and move on.

Black Girls Like What!?! An introduction

Welcome to my blog.

Where I’ll talk about different nerdy things I love and things that people wouldn’t attribute me liking because…

Hmmmmm

…Well…I’ll let you guess…

I remember one time on the train looking through Previews catalog and this random guy was like are you really into that. And I was like yeah I’m really into this. He was like that’s cool, and I was like, yeah, comics are cool.

I don’t want people to see me and think I’m some magical black girl unicorn, there’s a lot of us out here.

So, this blog is about me, my life, my fandoms, and all the things that come from not fitting in the mold that people want to put you in.