Alright, it's time for an outlet. And I can't do it in 140 characters or less, or in front of 600+ friends. I may have to revisit my good old friend, Xanga.

sidenote: Xanga has definitely changed in 2 years! I don't appreciate yall deleting my photos from 2006, lol j/k

New York is craaaaaaazy! Everyday since I've been here, I've seen something that completely takes me for surprise.

Everyone has been telling me that I should wait until I get here to get braids, cuz it's way cheaper here. So yesterday I go walking down 125th, hair scarfed-up and all, hoping that I find someone to braid my hair. I step into this African braiding shop and it's this small room with about 40 African women braiding. As soon as I step foot into the place, a woman pulls a chair out for me. Before I can open my mouth, she pulls some strands from out of my scarf and starts braiding.

I jerk in surprise. "Umm, hold on! How much is this gonna cost me?? Don't you need to know what I want? I need to get some hair!" My friend later explained to me that they do this so that no other woman can steal me as their client -- yes, it's that serious. So she slows down and I get to explain to her what I want. And then we go next door to buy some hair for $20.

I ask her how much this is going to cost me (my goal was $80 including the hair) and she says $80 (not including the hair). So I say nevermind.

"Okay, okay just for you... $75."

"I don't know, that's still a lot."

"Well we'll go back to the shop to discuss it."

So we return to the shop and walk all the way in the back. I swear, this is something I have never seen. There must have been about 75 people in this place. Small, dark, and there were suitcases stacked on top of each other. My friends warned me about roaches, so I tried my hardest to keep my eyes off the floor. Luckily I didn't see anything.

Alright, so back to the negotiations. She goes back to $75.

"I don't have $75."

"Well how much do you have?"

"$65."

"No... $65 isn't enough. How about $70?"

"Well I don't have $70, but I can go to the ATM and get more cash."

She gave me a very excited "okay."

"Okay cool, so let me just take my hair."

"Why do you have to take your hair, you're coming back right?"

"Yeah, but I want to take my hair with me. I paid for it!"

We go back and forth and finally she suggests that I pay her $65 and give her the $5 once she's finished. She never got the extra $5, so I spent a total of $85. A little over my initial goal, but not bad for my first time negotiating.

In all, it took about 2 1/2 hours. I brought a book, but I was just too amazed at my surroundings that I couldn't even concentrate. The women who were waiting to braid were tapping on the front window as people walked by. Two of them got into a heated argument after one stole the other's client. I got to see modern African music videos and some movies.

But let's talk about the people hustlin! Alright so first you have the CD guy and the DVD guy. Word. Then some more DVD guys. Okay. A guy selling books. Then you had a guy selling cologne. The lady beside me asks him what they smell like. When he starts to remove the shrink wrap, she says oh no, you don't have to do all that. To which he replies, "it's okay, I can put it back on."

Now why would I buy cologne from you after you not only acknowledge that you regularly remove the shrink wrap, but then you continue to spray the cologne to let random people smell it?

So he leaves. Then it just got ridiculous:

"Batteries? I got your Duracell batteries right here! $1 buys you 2 batteries, ladies, 2 batteries!"

"Size 12 Seven jeans! And they stretch too! Size 12... size 12" (Note: security tag still attached...)

"Alleve! Ladies, I got some Alleve for that headache! That's right, Alleve!"

Then I saw some toddler shoes and a skirt (there's a little baby somewhere with just a shirt and a diaper), ONE bottle of perfume, and lots of other crap.

So all and all, a very interesting day. I guess it may be common to many, but that's not something a southern girl like me normally sees.

Quick thought:

Did anyone see Oprah's Legends Ball last night? I have to say that it was just beautiful. All of those influential black women in the same room, all dressed up, looking gorgeous... it was great. On Sunday, Bebe Winans passed the mic as women such as Chaka Khan and Dionne Warwick sang in their Sunday's best. I pretty much lost it after that.  But here's what I don't get. You have Mary J Blige, Halle Berry, Della Reese, Janet Jackson, Maya Angelou, Angela Bassett, Gladys Knight, Alicia Keys, Patti Labelle... and Ashanti?!

What in the world has Ashanti done that puts her under the same roof as the legends or 'young'uns (what Oprah refers to as the generation that came after the legends)? One hit album and two/three mediocre ones to follow? A few acting gigs? Where was Destiny's Child? I'm not a huge fan, but I know that they've been 10x more successful than some Ashanti. Let me stop.

Funny. I've always been a homebody. I've always accepted the fact that I am a homebody. But it always bothers me when someone brings it to my attention. Maybe because they make it sound like a bad thing. And then I end up feeling guilty. Like tonight for example. There's an Alpha probate show at a college forty minutes from here. But I don't want to go. Shit, that's gas money. That's admission money. But you need to support your frats! Uhh, I'll support them in spirit. I'll congratulate them on Facebook. But you'll meet people! I have been to so many shows, and I have yet to walk away with one phone number. Besides, there's a Golden Girls marathon on Lifetime.

But I can feel the look of pity on my neos' faces when I tell them that I'm doing nothing for the weekend. Like oh, our poor poor Miss President is going to spend her weekend all alone! I feel like I disappoint them by staying home.

The way I see it, I enjoy my days of relaxation. For five days out of the week, I'm running around, going to class, studying, working. Nine times out of ten, I work eight hours on Sunday. So why can't I spend my Friday afternoon or Saturday watching TV in bed? There, I justified it. But obviously it's not good enough, because I still find myself feeling guilty.

I told one of my guy friends that I'm not going to the club for a really long time. I just don't see the point: I don't dance (unless I'm drunk), you can only party stroll so many times before you get on people's nerves, and drinks are expensive.  It's not like I meet men there. It's the same guys from my school, and then the random guys who don't do anything with their lives. My friend tells me, "you just don't want to have fun." Why isn't it that I like to have fun, but I just don't find the club fun? Why does it have to be one or the other? If you don't like the club, you're boring. If you don't like to dance, you're uptight.

But it's ironic. I'm shy and I don't like being the center of attention, but when I finally do things that are out of character for me, everyone points it out. And then I get flustered and move into the background. In other situations, I deliberately put myself in the background, but then wonder why no one notices me.

I often joke about not having a life, but I've realized that I could have a life if I really wanted to. I really can't blame anyone but myself. As I look back into my childhood, I was always the kid in the group who just seemed out of place. I always felt like the one trailing behind. Don't feel bad for me... as much as I complain about never being the center of attention, I would probably shy away if I had the chance.

Tomorrow, the grad chapter is hosting a Lil Miss AKA pageant. As we sat through the rehearsals last week, we watched the little four year olds dance across the stage and introduce themselves. I lean over to my soror (coincidentally enough, the previous Miss A Phi A) and say, "Geez, I could have never done something like that when I was a kid," to which she replies, "Please, you wouldn't be able to do that now."

So sad, so true.

Excuse me for sounding like a heathen, but whyyy does my Marketing Strategy professor feel the need to incorporate religion into every single lecture?

Lightning, please don't strike on me...

But i've never had a business professor who uses church as an example of marketing.
"Hey, when there was a new deacon in my community, he changed the nightly sermons. Now what does this say about the church's marketing plan?" I don't know, but hey, why don't we talk about this Adidas-Reebok merger...

A few weeks back, we had marketing luncheon which he hosted. It included the dean, distinguished business guests, and students.  He steps to the front of the boardroom, as we are about to dig into our salads, and says, "now let us bow our heads..." 

At a BUSINESS luncheon? Get outta here!

When he's not talking about religion, it's community service. Annually after the luncheon, the distinguished guests give a presentation about their career in the marketing world. Well instead of talking about marketing, instead of giving advice about post-graduation, they all had to discuss how their businesses give back to community service. Then he had us watch a video that our college made about mentoring middle school students.

Cute concept, but on Marketing Day, I hope to get a little insight on Marketing.

Days later, he told us how he is teaching International Marketing next semester. He wanted a show of hands for those who would rather mentor ESL students instead of have an end-of-the-semester project. Was I wrong for not raising my hand? Hello! I'm a business major. Extremely goal-oriented. Self-centered at times. No, I don't want to mentor an ESL student in place of doing a proejct that is DIRECTLY related to International Marketing. I already do community service for my sorority.

I can hear the thunder rolling now.

And I can on for days!

For an essay question, we had to develop a marketing plan for an elementary school's PTO.
We had to visit a thrift store and write a response paper on improving it.
We had to send out questionnaires about thrift stores and consumption.
Last class he brought in a clip from one of those famous televangelists and discussed its role in marketing.

It's not the fact that this man is against my religion or that what he is saying is offensive. It's just that there's a time and place to discuss church. Granted, with my eyes wide open and some thick glasses, maybe I can see how church and marketing are related. But we get your point; it doesn't have to be made every single lecture. Now, about that Adidas-Reebok merger...