Happiness

Young People…. STOP F*ing up your life.

Published on January 26, 2016January 26, 2016 by B-FancyLeave a comment

There is a young woman who is 23 years old. I’ve known her all of her life. Her sister is one of my Best Friends, and our families have been close since before I was born.

This young sista is beautiful and smart (or so I thought). She has not always made the right decisions but really who has? From the outside looking in, I thought she was trying. She had gone out of state for college, but a series of poor decisions brought her home to her sister’s couch without a degree. She ended up finding retail employment for about $12.00 per hour.

Me being the problem-solving diva that I am, I reached out to her to let her know about a free training program in her field of interest that could potentially double her income. This training program would be free to her for 5 to 6 hours a day for 16 weeks. Previous graduates of this program are making between $20.00 to $40.00 per hour.

She led me to believe she was really interested in this opportunity. She attended the orientation, completed the test, and participated in 3 interviews, just to not show up on the first day of class.

This is a program that had over 100 applicants for 23 spaces. I spoke to the instructor and the counselors to ensure she got into this cohort. I feel like she slapped me in the face and F*d off an opportunity to change her life.

She’s standing still right now, with no direction as to where her life is going. She’s not thinking about her future and is consumed with getting her nails done and ordering the best hair for her sew-in. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing wrong with getting your hair and nails done, but that can’t be the purpose of your life.

I just want to yell, what the hell is wrong with you? You’re not living up to your potential and as an adult, it’s no ones fault but your own. Be accountable, be a woman of your word, and don’t drag other people down with you. I didn’t have to put my name on the line for you, I didn’t have to extend the olive branch to give you a life-changing opportunity, but I did because I love you, I respect you, and I know you could have a bright future if you apply yourself and commit to something.

What’s, even more, sad is the lack of accountability and the need to play the blame game instead of saying I F*d up. I took it back to our Shule Mandela Academy days and recited a portion of a pledge we recited daily that stated: “All learning is not fun, some learning is tedious, but we cannot be black and proud, and all so be dumb, therefore we must learn, we are the next generation.” I get crickets from her, so I’m done. I can no longer help people that don’t want to help themselves.

Fortunately, I don’t mind helping another young sista, I just can’t help her.

Call to Action: Young People, take control of your life and Live life to it’s fullest potential because we only get one. Take advantage of every opportunity and go for all of your dreams!

Teach.Inspire.Motivate.Empower

Concerts in the Bay: Summer Jam 2015

Published on June 16, 2015July 11, 2015 by B-FancyLeave a comment

BAYYY BAY (in my New Orleans accent voice), I had the best time at Summer Jam this year! First off, I’ve been hitting Summer Jam, since I was 12 or 13…..LOL, I’m an OG in this game. I’ve been to Summer Jam at The Shoreline Amphitheater, Concord Pavilion, Oracle Arena in the Suites, and regular seats at Oracle Arena, and to be honest the fun never depended on the location, but who I went with. It’s always fun doing things with fun people! There were no fun killers in our group!
This year I attended with a few friends and my sister. The show was really good and everybody around us (except the two miserable birds in front of us) was turnt up and having a great time. We were all dancing and singing along with the performers and/or the DJ during the intermission. It almost felt like club night with an awesome DJ. Everyone was dressed up, hair done, make-up done, nails done, real FANCY, and smelling good, especially the guys who set in the section behind us, but I’ll write a separate blog post for that tea. On behalf of my whole crew, we want to shout out KMEL for having a great line up this year! (Emphasis on this year…..lol)

When I tell you Trey Songs put on a good show, he was absolutely great. He voice was beautiful! I love an artist that sounds as good in person as they do on the radio! This was my second time seeing him in concert! Though he performed well, I would rate his set a 9/10, minus one for his wack dancers. I’m like they are more of a distraction then entertaining. The outfits they wore didn’t compliment his at all, and it just seemed a little out of place to me. Other than making a bad choice on hiring dancers for his show, he had a good set, and shout out to him for paying homage to our home team #Warriors, while in their house! He is a classy man.

They saved the best for last. Weezy F. BABY! He really knows how to get the crowd pumped up! He was a one man army that night, and commanded the attention of thousands in the building. He didn’t have any gimmicks nor any distractions, just straight Tunchi! Not to mention, he spilled some ground breaking tea! He has really left Cash Money (I never saw that coming), signed a deal with his idol JAYZ, and his next album will be released on Tidal. I’m like, make them moves baby! It is a beautiful thing to follow your dreams and maintain success, and it’s that much sweeter when you’re able to do things the way you want. Kudos to Lil Wayne, he really inspired me!

Overall, I really enjoyed myself at this concert!

Brunching in the Bay: Oakland Edition, CANA

Published on June 16, 2015August 6, 2015 by B-FancyLeave a comment

Sunday Brunch at Cana in Oakland started off a little uneasy. My BFF and I walked in for our 11am reservation and it was cold, and they wanted to give us a small table by the door, or sit somewhere that we would have to get up after a certain amount of time, so we decided to just sit at the bar. At this point I felt a little embarrassed because I invited her out, picked the restaurant and our experience started off wack. After taking our seats at the bar, we relaxed a little, got comfortable (FYI, I love that they have hooks for your purse at the bar), and looked over the menu.

I was a little overwhelmed with all off the selections that they had for brunch! Everything looked so tasty and exciting. I had only had Cuban cuisine once, so I was excited for this treat! As I’m looking over the menu, I tried to find something that was point (Weight Watchers Term) friendly, I got excited for the Ceviche Trio, with Plantain Chips.

We ordered the Ceviche Trio for our appetizer, and we both selected the American Choice Omelet for our entrée. The Ceviche was AMAZING, the flavors just danced on my taste buds. Each one having its own distinct flavor, yet all of them were good. This was my first time having ceviche made with halibut in addition to the traditional shrimp. They also used more than just lemon and lime for citrus, they used pineapple and orange citrus. We ordered the American Choice Omelet, but it definitely had a Cuban flair. I subbed the eggs for egg whites.

The service was interesting…… It started off with a take it or leave it attitude with the wack seats from the hostess, to a very helpful/service oriented attitude from all of the staff towards the end of our meal. Our waitress/bartender seemed a little overwhelmed, it was the beginning of the day, and she was putting things together, so she was very pushy for us to hurry up and order, and then was forgetful of our request. We would ask the other bartenders and even the hostess for certain items and they were very helpful and eager to assist us. We had hoped to stay for the music, but it had got packed by the time we finished eating and we were ready to go.

Sitting at the bar, we were tempted to take advantage of their bottomless mimosas, but because juice and alcohol are not point friendly, I opted out, and my BFF wanted to be supportive of me, so she opted out as well.

Note, during the week M – F, they charge all of the patrons a $2.00 minimum wage fee, because minimum was increased to $12.00 in the City of Oakland. On Sunday’s, there is no Minimum wage fee, but if you stay for the band (which is nice if you’re not there to socialize), they charge a $2.00 band fee.

Overall, I would rate the experience a 3/5, customer service is really important to me and first impressions are important as well.