Got dog it Bruno Mars!!!!

How is it that you do this to us EVERY.SINGLE.TIME?! I mean like every single time dude?!

There I was minding my own dern business on Thursday and I see the interwebs all in a stir. Being that I was living that grown up 9-5 life, I couldn’t step away to go hear this whole Finesse situation that everyone kept chattering about on Twitter. I should have known though because I listened to 24K Magic and heard that some amazeballs remix was eventually happening in the middle of the night with my 2nd favorite ratchet she-ro (only 2nd to the Queen of Ratchet, Rihanna), the one and only Ms. Cardi B.

I also should have known that when I saw the visuals, I would be completely and utterly obsessed – thrusted back into my awkward tweens, where I loved simpler times of Cross-Colors, K-Swiss, oversized Looney Tunes shirts and African pendant necklaces. Oh those were the days of yesteryear when a scrawny, dancing-machine of a little girl could imagine being the 4th member of TLC and lead dancer of The Fly Girls on In Living Color.

So there it was 9-dog-on-PM, on the 4th day of the year when I already had a lot going on. I got onto Facebook only to see that my old dream was still kinda attainable. The hope dealer of my 9-year-old fantasies, real life, turned out to be non other than Bruno-mutha-effin-Mars! Clearly I’m excited and all in a country tizzy about it. I’m sure I’ll regret my poor Texas lingo some other time but right now I’m in a celebratory mood…#fortheculture.

He brings us yet another rhythmic tune with catchy lines accompanied by a vibrant visual full of slick moves, beautiful people and 90s fashions to live for. The nostalgia runs thick and it just wraps you up in the richness of 90s urban culture. I know this is going to sound odd, but as a kid who lived through that amazing period in time, I find this video like a beautiful ode to an 80s baby’s media filled childhood.

Thank you Bruno for making feel old as dirt and thank you for blessing us with another HOT joint to start this freezing year off right.

Winter hurricane what?! We have heat from Bruno Mars. <3

-D.Wright

January 2018 is here and like many of you, I’m wondering where did the time go?

It felt like just yesterday I was bringing in 2017 with my girlfriends and blissfully twirling around the kitchen blowing party favors. Yes we were having that total Waiting to Exhale moment and that night was like magic – then came the rest of the year. There were personal challenges, family tragedies, political chaos, natural disasters and all the things I never even considered being concerned about when I was a kid. All I knew back then was that life was a magical thing to live and everything seemed so amazing and new.

Do You Believe In Magic?

Funny enough, I often times wonder about magic. Now for you non-dreamers, this is where the buck might stop. You don’t want to keep going. My whole life I’ve believed in magic. I believed that the world could shift and bend to make miraculous things happen. I always associated this magic with a God power, but it was magical nonetheless. I remember feeling joy, unadulterated joy expectantly knowing the world was my oyster, and mine for the keeping but then I grew up. I left Neverland. Shortly after realizing I was doomed to be a full grown woman and an epic cry with a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio, I began to really think. The magic never left me, time was always there. Miracles never left, they were all revealed in time. Time – the very thing people said could be both a gift and a curse. The only curse about it was I felt like I never had enough of it. I knew I would take advantage of it and abuse it, shoot I even ran from it, but I never thought it was cursed. I took time for granted.

I think I sometimes still run from the magic of time but after a few failures and meltdowns, I suppose I’m ready to stop running and start dealing. What we do with our time can drastically alter the paths of our lives. When you hit your thirties, you really begin to embrace adulthood with all the happy moments and struggles you experience. I’m learning, it’s ok to reflect on the things that change with time (for better or worse) but the magic is in how you actually use that time to move forward past your challenges. I thought life would be rainbows and sunshine and that I had forever. I’ll tell you what last forever the sting of knowing one moment potentially changed your whole life for the worst but what about those moments that change you for the best? In an instant things can disappear or reappear in front of your very eyes. Life can change instantaneously and that is amazing to me.

Respecting the Time Given

I’m now learning how to respect the time I have and with all its contingencies. It makes more sense to live in the moment and watch the magic unfold before my eyes instead of revisiting the moments though drunken nights on my sofa listening to sad music about failed attempts at life. Respect the time you have on this Earth DeAndre, Sade told you to cherish the day girl! 

What does any of this even mean and why am I writing it to this sea of no-one? It means DO SOMETHING. Before we all know it 2019 will be here. Will we want to be those losers talking about what we shoulda-coulda-woulda done or will we be doers who won’t miss a beat in life? Will we be prepared for challenges, or exciting twists and turns? Will we tell the people we care about that we love them, will we express and emote to one another? Will we let our actions accelerate the magic of time? Will you? I know I will because I want to harness its power.

Cheers to 2018!

Now here I am, the fourth day of January 2018 and stepping even further into adulthood. I’m appreciating the time I’m granted more than ever before. I’m refreshed and prepared to truly work with the time I have. I’m ready to honor it and to use it wisely to make miraculous things happen for myself. I didn’t initially step into this year thinking I had a New Year’s resolution but I guess you could sort of say that I do. I’ll say that I will simply better use my time and know where it went. <3

-D.Wright

On this edition of #ThrowbackThursday, we have one of the biggest L’s of the year. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, news and social media has been flooded with stories about Roy Moore’s epic loss on last Tuesday night.

For you less informed folks – Roy Moore (GOP Judge/candidate and likely pedophile) went up against supposed good-guy-lawyer (I hardly ever believe those words in the same sentence) and Democratice candidate, Doug Jones, for the special Senate election.

For months there had been lots of finger-pointing and serious sexual assault accusations against Moore. It felt like victims were literally stepping forward every week and reports of his nefarious behavior was up for display on nearly every media outlet imaginable. Never one to disappoint or stray away from the most asinine and predictable behavior, the good ol’ boys of the GOP continued to sweep allegations under the rug and labeled them as a guise to destroy Christian ethnics and the nuclear family. If you could see my face right now. Moving on…One thing panty-robbing Roy did have going for him was the backing of the White House. He basically had an enthusiastic tangerine prince, a la #45, who spoke praises over his preferred candidate and (per the usual) never failed to take jabs at the media who were actually doing their jobs of reporting news on this creepy crawler and his opponent.

Side Note: I’m really trying hard not to make more jokes or pass too many judgements on this dude but let’s be clear, I think he’s touching on everybody in these streets and I think it’s terrible.

Reality Sunk In

All of the hype came to a crash when Roy received the results late that evening.

Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune.

Clearly there was shock, disbelief, and a level of “distraughtness” that we hadn’t witnessed by this wasp nest since Obama’s last win.

Moore stood in front of a small audience and attempted to rally the troops by telling his audience “God is always in control.” Why yes He is Roy, yes He is #thankyouGodweneededthisone. Then he had the nerve to rattle off some badly rehearsed excepts from Psalms. It was a complete travesty and a train wreck you you can view here.

Political Gangs

I learned something that night. Honestly, I think I knew it already but found it to be more apparent than ever before. Americans are legit in political gangs. I mean come on, it’s like the Crips & Bloods on steroids and ruining everyone’s lives.

I knew we were doomed when I watched that video floating around showing die hard Republicans hell-bent on ignoring actual facts to vote their affiliation. And yes I’m absolutely sure there are some lunatic “libtards,” as they’re lovingly referred to, out here but I mean right now we’re clearly having some issues with conservative voters and their overbearing/under-applied beliefs. So…I’m literally looking at this video like whoa. These people are real life in a gang and don’t even know it.

Photo courtesy of ThyBlackMan.com

This blindly loyal bunch seemed all too familiar to the very thugs most of their pedigree generally try to distance themselves from. In this video, one person goes as far to say that even if the allegations were true, they didn’t want to lose a seat in the Senate. Double blink. What? Y’all already know I think this is not only problematic but just flat out disturbing. What kind of troubled human beings think it’s ok to exchange policies for humanity? Seriously, this gets a big ole WTEFF.

So note to self and to you good people…Don’t be in a political gang – it’s divisive and stupid. Right is right and wrong is wrong. If people are doing wrong, that doesn’t mean support them in their wrongdoings. That means hold them accountable. There are some folks I’ve admired my whole life that are being accused of terrible crimes against women, and guess what…they should be held accountable. I’m not going to give them a pass because they’re a part of groups I align with or because it’s inconvenient for me and doesn’t fit the narrative I’d like to continue to tell about their greatness. NO. They need to be held accountable no matter my personal feelings for them.

That’s called having balance. Try it.

Black Votes Matter

There was something else that we learned that fateful Tuesday night. Black Votes Matter.

Now if you’re conservative and reading this, please try to see past your bitterness and disdain for a group (#BlackLivesMatter) you hardly know anything about to understand my point. Black people are tired and want progress, too. White conservatives are not the only group in America that want to make serious changes, minority voters should not be discredited or disenfranchised. Black Alabamians did not seem to align with anything the GOP was selling and the polls pretty much reflected the divide. People at the top with some good common sense should probably start asking questions like “why is that” to honestly seek real answers around the division between party and race. Obviously those out of touch with the African American community had no clue this one was coming but word on the street was Jones campaigned pretty hard in African American communities and spoke to their growing concerns.

Jones’ win literally came down to race and based off this wild Tuesday night, these 2018 midterms are going to be something to see. I’m just glad Alabama got it right, even if a small minority tipped the scale. <3

-D.Wright

Let’s talk about dogs that are actually worthy of the term this morning. I’ll definitely be getting to the political ones later. #ShoutouttoAlabamafordoingtherightthing.

Anywho, I was with my buddy JJ visiting the SoulTaco truck at Throughgood Coffee a few weeks ago, and it was a pretty amazing day out. People were out in their super cute fall outfits and they had their fur babies running amuck. That’s when we ran across this cutie…

As you could imagine, there were definitely shrieks and those emoji finger wiggles of happiness happening all over the place. I mean, come on, this is a cute freaggin doggie. Right in time, JJ’s ADD kicked into high gear. She stopped in mid-conversation only to say “His name is Roger. I don’t know if it’s a he or a she but his name is Roger.” And that my friends, is where our story (and the point of my post) begins.

Stop naming dogs human names.

I actually have a brother named Roger and yes he’s heard his fair share of “Go home Roger” that I’m sure could last him a lifetime. So imagine poor Roger, who’s already tortured enough, running into a puppy with his name. How awkward is the conversation “Oh funny, I have a dog named Roger too”? I’d imagine not funny at all but one of those moments where you question your parents for not naming you something a little more dazzling.

I am in no way a puppy name elitist, ok maybe just a little, but got dang it human names are so weird on dogs and they confuse everyone! I told JJ that Roger was a terrible name for a puppy (of course totes my opinion) and mostly because I feel like it’s weird. What if you’re yelling “Come here Amber” and whole a grown woman turns her head because she and the dog share a real life name? The whole thing is just messed up.

But maybe I do feel like there might be an exception, like maybe a human nickname or something. I guess I understand that people would want to name their dog a human name to prove that they have a little semi-human companion but it’s still crazy to me.

For the record, I’ve always felt this way and totally expressed as much to everyone who knows me. My sister named her dog Audrey and most might think this little cutie is romantically named after THE Audrey Hepburn, but she wasn’t. There was a whole strange rhyming situation that derived from Audi, and now some poor chick out there and my sister’s dog share a name.

I’m old school when it comes to this sort of thing. It’s more in the sense of once I get my puppy, I intend on naming it some ridiculous name with two syllables so it can understand what the heck I’m yelling. I want my dog to be clear that it’s not any ole human off the street and that she’s my quirky little sidekick.

So with that being said, here is my shortlist of appropriate puppy names:

Buddy
Peanut
Teddy
Trixie
Burger
Comet
Cocoa
Gizmo

I think you get the picture, the dern dog needs to know it’s not a human but I’ll digress for now.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Roger turned out to actually be a she named Donut. Now that’s a puppy-dog name and yes the tacos were amazing. I will definitely be going back and hopefully get to see Donut frolicking in the doggie park the next go round.

What do you think about dogs with human names and if you did name it something less quirky than what I was envisioning, what would it be? <3

-D.Wright

So a few weeks ago, Apple released their anticipated iPhone X.

Of course people were all abuzz about whether they thought the device would be a hit or just another mediocre success that Apple would overhype or over-market to over-compensate for an potential epic failure masked by the glories of yesteryear.

Then I saw this…

Samsung fired shots! And then it went viral and pretty much has taken over my television every few commercials. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s hilarious and definitely a gut punch for Apple fanboys and girls around the globe moving at the bird call of the tech giant. It was a great effort, but it left me with a couple of thoughts.

Apple Does Not Care

I sat back a couple days, and then days turned into weeks… Apple said nothing. It’s like when you ignore that frenemy you know loves your outfit but refuses to acknowledge you (or it) in public. Not only did Apple not care, but they stayed centered on themselves. There was no Samsung shade in sight, not even an acknowledgment. That must sting, even just a little bit. Apple brushed off Samsung like a bitter ex. So now what? We laughed, Apple doesn’t care, fans thought it was clever but what now Samsung? Will your phones live up to the hype you put out or will it all blow up in your face? Maybe a little pun intended there.

Samsung Didn’t Win Me Over

I’ll tell you what now, I’m still going to look at Google and Apple phones. I’ve never waited in a line for an iPhone or really pined over the next one but being insulted definitely isn’t going to win me over as a customer. Why would I want to move to a phone that doesn’t fit my lifestyle and to a company that thinks it can cyber bully its way into my pockets? Then on top of it, the phone could literally be used as a homemade explosive. I’m good, thanks.

The Lesson

So even though I feel like their innovation is decent and their track record is weird, there is a lesson. Win off of your own merit. When you’re doing amazing work, you don’t have to do multimillion dollar campaigns to prove that you’re better than your competitors. When you stay focused on your product or services and your customer base, the sky really becomes the limit. By staying customer-centric you gain customer loyalty and in turn become your peer’s worst nightmare.

So anywho, good commercial. I can’t wait until it retires but at least I learned a little something from it. Worry about me, it’s less desperate. <3

-D.Wright