Moving Away From the Ranting

I have not been posting on this blog for most of the year because I have grown quite tired of my rants about being an individualist which I felt like I needed to get out due to some of the encounters I had on the social network, you know the one. I felt like there was way too much preaching on the virtues of group think. I was tired of reading the craziness and knew that I needed to let them know that I was not one of them. Now that that is done, I plan to talk about other things but, that doesn't negate the possibility of an occasional rant on the subject of individualism.

Best Western Tree House Motor Inn, Mt. Shasta

Dear Talibah, I am writing you in regards to your recent visit here at the Tree House. We were glad to see that your son recovered from his allergic reaction. We hope that you are able to determine, in the near future, what caused his skin to break out and the breathing problems he experienced. In speaking with you and also reading your concerns on Customer Care, I understand that while you feel his reaction was direct result of the chlorine in our pool or spa, I have found no evidence that would substantiate your claim. I am more than happy answer any questions or concerns that you may have. Also, you mentioned to me that the hospital would be faxing over some information to the hotel. As of today, I have not received this information. If I misunderstood you, please let me know. I would also like to assure you that Mr. Cottrell was simply trying to explain our side of things regarding the commercial and residential standards required by the Health Department. I am sorry that you were given another impression. I hope that you and your family have safe and happy Fourth of July. Thank you. Brian LinsleyGneral ManagerThe Best Western Plus Tree House111 Morgan WayMount Shasta, CA 96067530.926.3101

These types of letters are always disturbing because you have the audacity to actually sit down and write this to us. After swimming in your over chlorinated pool my son had an allergic reaction and had to go to the emergency room. If someone is injured in your hotel, you are responsible even if things are up to spec. If someone falls down your up to spec stairs, you are responsible and the same applies to your pool. My son got in your pool and hot tub twice a day and by the three day, he was wheezing but we did not connect it to the pool until the morning of June 28th when he got into your pool and hot tub and returned to the room saying that his hands and feet were burning and that he felt as though he could not breathe. I told him to get in the shower and washthe chemicals from his body, he did so and in a couple of minutes he ran out and showed me the bumps all over his body. The only other thing that my son did was eat breakfast that morning and dinner the night before in your restaurant. As to your other claim that some how we mis-understood Tom Cottrell when he told us that if we wanted to continue being a guest at the hotel, the conversation was over and his attempt to dismiss us, you are attempting to insult our intelligence. We were not guest in your hotel, we were paying customers so you and mr. Tom should get that straight in your minds. If the only thing you have to say to us is ridiculous things like this, don't bother us, cut the bullshit!! We paid $700 plus to stay in your hotel and now I will be paying another $2000 to pay for the emergency room visit caused by our over chlorinated pool. Remember we have stayed in the hotel many times and we warned our sonabout the heavy chlorination that in the past burned our hair and left our eyes burning for hours. You definitely mis-understood, I said that Best Western customer care said that they would send the report to you not the hospital. Tom Cottrell is rude and uncouth and generally in my daily life I do not come in contact with this type of low level person and hope to never again. Maybe you are a person who does not trust his own judgement but my husband and I are not though people. Cottrell tried to insult and dismiss us after half listening to our concerns for less then ten minutes and when I told him that he could not dismiss us, he dismissed himself, and that is what happened. A business is only as good as its care given to paying customers when something goes wrong and you and mr. cottrell have failed to make the mark, and in the end, the only good thing about your hotel is the view of the mountain. I will post this on my blog!SincerelyTalibah

So Lovely To Take a Break From the Madness

Last week I had a wonderful time leaving the madness of Obama starting yet another war and all of the propaganda leading up to the invasion and all of the double talk that followed and is continuing right up to this moment. For the most part, I tune it all out but I am aware of what is going on. Obama is at the helm of the push to re-colonize Africa and no one is suppose to notice because he is Black, well I do notice and I am not at all surprised by anything this government does regardless of who is at the helm. If you have valuable resources, this government wants them and they will create any type of false dilemma in order to bum rush your borders and to take what does not belong to them. So there you have it and this shit will go on in one form or another for as long as greedy bastards have the military force to bully whomever they choose. Through it all, I can leave it all behind and find my peace.

Prayers for Nippon

Over the years my friend Nami-chan has brought back offerings and prayers for me from spiritual temples in her country. I am sending loving healing energy out to my friend and her country

No Nonsense

When Will Americans Walk Like An Egyptian?

I have always disliked the saying "walk like an Egyptian," because it has no basis in reality but when someone asked the question " when will Americans walk like an Egyptian on Facebook, I wanted to know what they meant by it. Unfortunately, I did not know this person but, my question to the author of this statement is what are you advocating, do you want Americans to take to the streets? For what reason, what is the issue that would drive the masses into the streets? I really don't know why the so called Egyptian people are in the streets, but I hear that they are finally tired of Mubarak running things but what does that have to do with the American people. We are already in most of the countries on the planet so I guess some think that we should go ahead and jump into this mess also.

February 11, 2011: This post was started when this so called revolution began and now the media says that it is over and they, the people have successfully ousted Mubarak. I really don't know who really ousted this man but I have a suspicion that it was not the people but the power behind the curtain, the ones that really are responsible for toppling governments. I have never really been interested in politics and/or politicians because when you come down to it they are all pushing hidden agendas that don't have much to do with helping the people that vote for them so, excuse me if I choose not to "walk like an egyptian," but to walk like the individualist that I am, and that means that, I am walking past all of the bullshit that the media is peddling.

Photography

Trying to be a photographer is really kicking my butt as I am called on to put myself out there to try and capture images for other people. I know I have bitched and complained about this in the past but for me, it is difficult to take the photo and then have others judge its worth. I said it before and I will say it again, I am not a professional so when I am in these situations, a little of the joy, no, a lot of the joy is taken away from me and replaced with anxiety, but through it all, I get a little satisfaction when I capture something wonderful. I am planning on taking some classes so I can learn how to better use my camera. I know that I love going out into my world and just trying to capture the magic and it is usually a spontaneous happening, I see something wonderful and I snap, that is how I love to do it. I also seem to take photos of nature, rocks, bridges, places and things, not many people, people are much more complex and it requires more skill on my part. I am truly out of my comfort zone and I know growth will be the end result.

Finding Magic

I spend my days in search of and finding magic. I can take the tiniest thing and turn it into something wondrous, I love that about me. Armed with my camera, I try to capture my world and post it for all who are interested.

Feelings of Failure

I was given a chance to do something new, exciting and nerve racking and that was to come as an "honored" guest photographer for a dance benefit and in my eyes, I failed the task. The minute I walked into the badly lit theatre, I knew I was in trouble. I took a few test shots from different locations and I was unable to get anything of significance. I am a dancer so, I love watching dance but this was absolutely the worst time I have ever had watching a dance performance and by the time the show ended, I had aged 20 years. I am laughing now but that night, I felt so defeated. Don't get me wrong, I loved the dances but with every click a feeling of despair hang over my head, some how I knew I wasn't living up to my expectations. I wanted to blame it on the recently purchased camera but no, I think it was just my skill level, and my son who is a photographer and has done many photo shoots tried to make me feel better by telling me that this was a great thing and that it would help me to grow, but, I was inconsolable until I found an email that explained to the company director that the lighting would be a problem but I would come and try to capture something. In the end, the dancers were very appreciative of the photos and I thanked them and tried to move forward. You see, I am out of practice when it comes to failure and that is because I am not taking any chances, which is not a good thing. In order to stay in the game called life, I need to continue to put myself out there to learn new things, move out of my comfort zone, be daring, embrace new challenges and learn from my not so successful ventures. By doing this, I will always be a winner.

Trying to Capture My Flow on Film

These days, when I leave home, I always have my camera with me. Most of the time I have my little digital in my purse and my 35mm film camera around my neck. I have enjoyed taking photos since I was sixteen but lately if I leave my 35mm, I feel like an appendage is missing, it has become part of me, an extension of me, a third eye hanging from my body. This strong attachment has occurred over the last two years or, ever since I joined facebook. I wanted to show people who I am so I started taking my cameras everywhere to try and capture what I think is a magical life, on film and digital. In trying to capture my life, my flow, I have really grown to love this medium of expression. I am always looking for pictures that explain the magical world that I live in. Recently I spent time sitting on a beach that was composed of sea glass, and I wanted let people on my page see what I saw although nothing beats seeing it with your naked eye. In the beginning I used my camera and video to show the magical space I call home and then I moved out and about to show my bay area playground and how it is possible to have fun doing the simple things in life. I am really starting to fancy myself as a photographer and people have suggested that I take some classes, I thought about it and decided against it. I am not interested in being trained to see the world through some teacher's eyes. I want the compositions to be my own and not that of the teacher. People say that you should learn the rules and techniques and then you can stray from them and do your own thing but for me that doesn't make sense, I am having fun doing what I am doing and being graded or critiqued in a classroom will probably not bring me much joy. So, I will continue to try and capture my world and my joy on film on my own.

The New Dreadlock Generation

The new dreadlock generation are doing a little bit too much in the way of trying to dictate what our locs should look like and how we should care for them. They show blatant disregard for those who have come before them. Back in the day they referred to us as dirty and nasty and it turns out that they still do the same thing in the year 2010. They exhibit photos of rastas and place them under a category entitled "neglect," and they call it nasty because of the way it looks and many post comments, like, "nasty, lol, I'm glad that is not on my head," and they call it dirty because they don't like the way it looks. I know that this goes both ways because an older brotha just told me that he calls this new loc generation, "pasta rastas," because they are plastic, they lack culture, and because of their tiny uniformed spaghetti one size and all the same length hair." So, they are also being judged but as, a backlash because they are putting themselves up as judge and jury when it comes to this ancient powerful hair. Since this hair has been taken over by the masses, they have diluted some of the powerful energy that can be manifested through wearing locs. They are an antennae to the spirit world and there used to be a definite initiation period. As they grew with little interference other then, sun, water and love, it reached a stage when you knew it needed to simmer and you donned your crown that you learned to crochet, and then, like a caterpillar creating and entering its cocoon, you emerged a butterfly. That was the magic of growing locs. I no longer feel that magic with this new dreadlock generation, it is just a hairstyle and when they post blogs concerning their hair journeys, they get caught up in which products to use because, for many of the new locked masses, this was not considered a relevant style until they could take it into the shop and until that had products to plaster on them. It had to become profitable for the masses to jump on the bandwagon. So where is the magic, where has it gone?The mainstream masses have taken over this ancient powerful hair and that means that it has come down from the mountain tops and been dragged into the mainstream where it diluted and mixed with all manners of stuff and its meaning and magic has been wiped away for the masses but, there are still those on the mountain tops that are connecting to the cosmos through there powerful locked antennae!

Museums

I am having a fun and interesting summer, the only thing missing is more sunshine. I have memberships to most of the main museums in the bay area and I have for some time so why is it that almost every time I walk into a museum there is some pin head, treating me as though I have just discovered that these places exist, and even though I am a member, they seem to want to ignore that fact. If they are not running up to me to check and make sure that I didn't enter without paying, they are trying to explain things to me as if they are speaking to a two year old. What the hell is this about, and tell me how I could possibly enter without paying? I want to toot my own horn, I stand out in a crowd so, how could I possibly squeak by guards? This has happened in every one of the museums and now, I am tired and poised to take down the next jackass that steps to me, because you see, I realize that this is a Black thing, and the perpetrators are both white and Black. For some ignorant reason, they have it in their heads that I am some kind of intruder so, whenever I enter a museum they feel the need to approach me to see what I am doing and how did I get in the building. I have had security guards run across the room to check to see if I had indeed paid, one security guard told me that I was in the European art section and that the African American art was on the other side. These two guards were both Black, wtf!!! I have been followed around as if I am going to steal the art, I have had a white worker make a big scene by welcoming us to the museum and telling us that he was there to answer any of our questions because of course this had to be our first time and seeing that it was Martin Luther King's birthday the day before, he felt compelled to do this. To the inexperienced eye and ear maybe this would have come off as something positive but in reality it came off as trying to accent the fact that we were obviously strangers in a strange land, museum land. Now we are reporting people for bad behavior and the people in charge appear to be embarrassed at what their employees are doing. I have decided that I have to take these ignorant people down by embarrassing them because after all this is what they are attempting to do to me. Well there is still two weeks before summer officially ends and I plan to keep going to visit my museums so, I will keep you posted.

Individualist- simple rhymes

I'm an individualist
and I mean no harm to thee
I simply live my life for me
they say we live many lives
but this is the only one I can see
so let me be
a slow growing tree
who loves her daily cup of tea
and praying by the sea
for I mean no harm to thee
this is my key
thereby filling my life with harmony
they never taught this to me
at the university
Individualist, that's me
you may agree or disagree
but this is not a plea
it's a decree
I mean no harm to thee
not to be you, for this is my life
I simply choose to be me
flowing free
here and beyond
into
infinity

What's Been Missing

Yesterday I had such a wonderful time at Hummingbird cottage for the very reason that it was the first time in about two years that I had a guest in the cafe. I think I am spending far too much time alone and although I am told that in several of my past lives, I was a monk, and that much of my life was spent in isolation in prayer and meditation, being alone too much bugs the crap out of me in this life time. I love seeing the faces of my visitors when I open the door to my magical jewel box of a dwelling. I know that it is a special place that I have filled with all sorts of trinkets, talismans, shells, bones, colors, sounds, fragrances, and more but will my guest get it? It turns out that when I follow my intuition as to whom I invite to my cottage, I am always on point because they are magical beings also and can totally enjoy what I have created.

One Hundred Years

I have always been considered a slow bloomer
and that is because I plan to be a centenarian
and therefore my life flow is that of a tree
no speed for me
I am a little over half way there
and I am just beginning to hit my stride
I have cracked myself wide open and allowed
all forms of magic to pour out
while many around are racing to their ending
I am content to take my time
I am trying to slow down time
in an attempt to wallow in every moment
I gather crystals, herbs, healers, mountains, beaches, bones and stones
I wrap myself in many colors and surround myself in sound
all of these talismans are part of my personal alchemy
and they help me to remain on this earth plane
growing free and slowly like a beautiful tree
unfurling my limbs toward one hundred

I Define My Reality

There are way too many people in the world that will try to define your reality for you if you let them and I have no intention of letting them do that to me. People will assume and define your reality by race, gender, class, nationality, age and any other type of group that they can squeeze you into. There is baggage attached to all of these classifications but I am not one to take on other peoples limitations. Just because you feel restricted by race or gender, do not try to force this restriction on me. The other day somebody was talking to me about age and the reality of one person dying and leaving the other behind, in the case of a couple, I heard her concern but frankly speaking, it is not my concern. My concern is that my honey and I live our lives to the hilt! I care and put my attention on living, not on dying. I do not want to waste our precious time here on earth worrying about leaving. Too many people try to put their crap on you, guess what, you will be the one to suffer behind this kind of thinking, not me, because I refuse to own it, no thank you, I fly above all of this low level thinking.

Monique As the Voice of Reason

You know that living my life by the standards of another goes against my grain and the idea of taking relationship advise from Monique is a utterly ridiculous notion as far as I am concerned. I just finished listening to a video from the Monique show on BET and she brought a couple on who she fully endorsed to tell sistahs that they needed to submit, surrender to their king, and she proceeded to use crude language explaining how she thought she had a male sexual organ and she wanted to control everything and I thought, what the blank am I listening to? Are these sistahs serious, this is 2010 and slavery officially ended in 1864-65 and these sistahs have willingly sold themselves back into slavery and they are asking the masses of sistahs to join them in their bondage. Are Black women really going to sell themselves, mind, body and soul in order to have a so called man/master? What price are you willing to pay in order to have this type of , in my opinion, worthless male? Now I know that some jackass will accuse me of being a man hater, or they might even call me a lesbian, but the truth of the matter is that I learned how powerful I am as an individual when I was in my mid-twenties and I used my power to create the life that I wanted, the life that I deserved. I have a loving husband of thirty-two years and we have never entertained the notion of dominance over one another. We both know and love each other's nature and would never insist that the other douse their light in order for the other to shine brighter because, what happens is, you dull the whole relationship and in the end, you both end up as lesser people.

Time to Get My Mojo Working

Now that I have been to the mountain and received some very important messages, it is time to get my mojo working. It seems that I have been resting on my laurels for far too long and it is time to move. I have gone out and gathered energy now I have to use it to create again. I have a painting that has been waiting for me for a year and everyday I walk by and look at it, it stares back at me, it is me looking and wondering about me. Why the long hold up what the frick is going on with me? I sat in that beach chair on the mountain for four hours and soaked up some much needed magnetic feminine/masculine energy. My husband and I have rededicated ourselves to becoming renaissance people and that requires hard work, consistency and vitality. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by going forward with our art, music, language, writing, reading, studying the ancient Nile Valley civilizations, and, I have a week to decide if I am going back to dance.

Wonder Twin Powers......Activate

What this mini vacation was really all about was the fact that I have loved Charles for 32 years and it was our anniversary celebration. Whenever we head out on a trip we say," wonder twin powers activate" because we double our power that way and no one messes with us. I don't really like the kissing picture because I am holding the camera and I am to close, so my face looks too big and the pursed lips are a little too corny but I decided to post it anyway because we have the magical waterfall behind us. I know that it is not obvious but, that is my hand on the left and his is on the right and the rings are hematite and therefore, magnetic so, when we hold hands, they bond together, now, how cool is that! So here is to 32 more years of wonder twin spirit power. Activate!!

Mt. Shasta

I returned home from our mini vacation last Sunday and I am ready to go again because seven or was it eight days just isn't enough and it is taking me a week to unpack. We had so much fun with one another, one of the coolest things happened on this trip, we visited the cafe from the famous movie, at least to me it was famous, Bagdad Cafe. I was so excited that I actually could not stop smiling while I snapped pictures and drank lemonade. Then it was on to Las Vegas and our favorite hotel, Bellagio, wow, I am missing the yummy dinners that I had there. We love Bellagio and we always have a fabulous room on the upper floors with a full lake view and it is important for me to have a room with a view of the strip. We were there for three days of walking around and seeing the sights and we even got to see the Musical Play, "The Lion King," and it was alright but I would have preferred to see a Cirque Du Soleil production. We spent the last three days of our trip in the beautiful mystical Mt. Shasta City which is at the foot of the awe inspiring Mt. Shasta. From the minute the mountain comes into view from highway 5, you can't take your eyes off of it, never mind that it dominates the landscape, it is magical. Mt. Shasta is a magnetic vortex that summons people from all over the world and they come in droves to walk her/his beautiful slopes. The mountain is surrounded in mystery from, UFO's to Lemurians living in a city inside the mountain. There are stories about ascended masters who have appeared on the mountain and little people who have lead campers to their city on the mountain. We have seen strange lights hovering over the top of the mountain at night and the magnificent clouds formations that form over the mountain. The energy of the Mt. Shasta affects all of the surrounding area for miles. There are waterfalls with entities around them and lava tubes that are portals for inter-dimensional travel. Just spending time in the natural beauty of this powerful area is priceless. Mt. Shasta city is the perfect place to pick a personal crystal and to get a reading on the crystal itself in order to find out why this particular crystal attracted you to it. All in all, it was a wonder filled trip and the mountain informed me that I need to visit her at least once year if not twice because she has knowledge to pass to me so, I will return as soon as possible.