The Story of the prodigal Son pt. 2

So we met on my birthday randomly in a caf somewhere on my way from biochem to sociology or something like that! (I used to be a geek I lie to you not). I walked up to him like

"Hey are you T from facebook?"

"Yea are you Shaderi?"

"Yeah..."

2 hours later we get up and leave and have been friends ever since.

Now I know EVERYBODY thought we were dating because where you saw T you saw me. But he was my road dog. We talked about how much we loved Praise and Worship, how much we loved BBQ sauce. He even hipped me Open Pit BBQ sauce!! HE COOKED!!!!!!!! Like he would call me and say:

Yo I'm cooking I'm coming to pick you up.

Come to think about it he is just like me. I LOVE IT!!!!

And then graduation happened and I moved back home... and moved to MD.

I spoke to T once when I moved to MD. Coming home from Dive at Zion Church (so you already know that was a while ago). Then I was pressed over this dude so I did a one week no guys fast and lo T called in the middle of my fast. I was so tight because I knew he would change his number again before I had a chance to call him back. And that is what happened.

I haven't spoken to T in a little over 2 years. But I think about him every time a Fred Hammond cd comes out, Mary Mary comes on the radio, Tye Tribbett does Tye Tribbett things, pastors give awful offering sermons... That is my boy. And he will be in DC this weekend!!!!

Icing on my red velvet cake!!

The Story of the prodigal Son pt.1

I will be honest and say that I have recently learned a lot from God and should definitely share it with the world.

THIS IS NOT THAT TIME!!!!!

So back when I had a perm, gas was 1.78 a gallon, and facebook was only for college students, I met this guy on facebook.

What had happened was:

He was looking at profiles of Christians on fb (remember when you could click things people were interested in and see other people who listed the same interest?!?) So he sent me a message that said "Hey I was looking at Christians at our school and was getting depressed but then I came across your profile and you are actually not ashamed to be a Christian"

Since I didn't have a computer during these times I opened this message in my friend's dorm room so everyone in the room was like "yo deri that dude is cute and that is a pretty bold message. What are you gonna do about it? I think you should write back."

So I did. I said "Interesting pic. And yes I'm a real Christian" we talked for a while. Picture of Shaderi and Picture of dude who used his driver's license as his profile pic. (That has to be like giving the finger to fb) Then we met in real life. On my birthday

stay tuned for part 2

My party clothes are so binding!!!

That is probably one of the most profound statements from the movie that defines my generation and gives meaning to my life... CLUELESS!!!

I mean I can quote the entire movie from beginning to end. However, I must admit that I have never given much thought to this scene at all. But tonight for some reason this scene means a lot to me.

Cher is sitting on her couch brushing her hair in a purple cardigan and some jeans, while watching Ren & Stimpy talking about how much she enjoys staying in the house and going out. Her reason for staying in is simple; She can wear whatever she wants and have her hair look however she wants it to.

Tonight I feel the exact same way!!! With no actual PRESSING OBLIGATIONS, left work, went to the movies (with quite possibly the greatest individual on the face of this earth)***, came home and ate, and plan on playing video games until my heart is content!!!

Don't get me wrong I love going out- I still have time to get ready and go to 3 functions that I turned down if I really wanted to go.

But tonight I will rock some sweat pants and let my hair down.

I deserve this! And you do too!!!

***Please don't try and speculate who it is because I know a lot of great people***

Minute to Win it!!!

For Valentine's Day I went Speed Dating!!! Here is how it all went down (play by play style):

4:45 -I'm completely dressed and my friend shows up in sweats after I said we needed to by on the metro by 5:15. I pretty much knew that was not going to happen

5:20 - We leave the house and suddenly are reminded that the beltway on Friday at 5pm is a parking lot. Our chances of ever being remotely on time are shot. And I am one of the few people who doesn't like to be late.

6:45 -We meet one more friend at the metro. The event starts at 7 and this friend is ALSO not dressed and her hair is not done. At this point I figure we are NEVER going to make it. And I need new friends who actually respect the clock.

7:15 - We show up to the event pretty sure that they are going to turn us away because we are so late. However, the event didn't even start! I should have known the moment that I stepped onto an HBCU things were going to be different. I had to throw away my experience at 2 white schools and "go with the flow"

8:00 - Let the dating begin!!!!!! I sit down in front of someone who's last name clearly started with a vowel and ended with a vowel, who kept trying to give me high-5s, I thought to myself "I could get up and run now and NOBODY would care. After that minute and 30secs of sheer awkwardness I made my rounds on 13 other dates.

3 dental students - one of which smelled like he did veterinary dentistry. I tried to figure out how you could go some place without showering. I mean this bamma still had scrubs on. JUST WRONG!!!!

3 more FOTB dudes who's last names begin and end with vowels. I couldn't even understand them. However one dude was hilarious. I sat down and said "Hola" he said "oh where are you from?" "NY" "No originally" "NY" "But you said your name was Ola" "No I said Hello" Ding time is up!!

Last dude of the evening takes the cake!!! I sit down and this bamma says "Are you Caribbean?" "no, why?" "Because you look Caribbean" "Why would you say that" (you should know now that though I have nothing against people from any island in the Caribbean I HATE when people assume I am from there!! Proud to be an American Negro!) "Because you have a SWEET GAP" "I'm sorry a what?!?!?"

YES A SWEET GAP!!!

Needless to say I walked away laughing!!!! I'm glad I went. I would do it again!

My life in 88 keys

So maybe you didn't know this about me but I have been playing the piano for 24 years. Yes 24 years.

(I wish I could play by ear but I am not cool enough for that but I can read music so that makes me slightly amazing right?!?)

Anyway a few weeks ago, when I realized that my life is crazy, I began thinking about how much God sustains me. Then I started thinking about what it means to be sustained. I admit that I didn't look in the dictionary or anything but I did look at a piano.

I can admit that I rarely used the pedal in the middle. It makes sense because it's an american pedal and I play music written by Europeans. But the pedal on the left and the pedal on the right define my life.

The pedal to the left, the soft pedal, pretty much acts like a mute. I love it's function and I love how it works. It shifts the hammers to the right so that they are not hitting the strings dead on and it makes the sound softer. Sometimes I feel like God is my soft pedal. He just shifts everything that I am going through over so that I am not feeling the direct blows of everything. I continue to press on.

But ahhh, the pedal on the right. The sustaining pedal. This pedal raises all the dampers off the strings so that they can continue to vibrate and sound after a note on the keyboard has been released.It allows certain notes to be connected together.

Right now I feel like God has hit the sustaining pedal on my life. Even though I feel like there is too much going on and I can't take it. He is allowing it to continue because it makes for an every sweeter harmony. He is holding it all together. He is essentially building the perfectly layered chord in my life.

God, work, ministry, education, love, social life, money, family.

At times I wish this were more like a scale with each note being played at a different time but this is more like a chord that can only be played using the sustaining pedal because these notes are all over the 88 keys of my life.

Gotta catch em all...

Honestly, if you didn't start singing along then I don't know what to say! The song cranks and the show was the business! (and I wasn't even allowed to watch it or play the video game because somebody mentioned witchcraft or something I don't know)

But for the past few weeks I have been thinking about the fact that God chose me. Like David in 1 Chronicles 14:2 I realized that the Lord established me. Established, confirmed, etc. Sometime before the foundations of the earth I God knew that I had "coogi head to toe" He had to choose me "so watch me hit em with the flex..." (I digress)

Anyways

When I began to think about what it means to be chosen by God

I couldn't get all deep with it like some people because we all know I am just not that deep. However, I got a picture of God carrying me in a poke-ball. If I had to pick

a pokemon to be, I would choose pikachu because he was so cute but could sting the crap out of you!

So here is why this image came to my mind: On the show Ash traveled around and was challenged to battles, he would take out his pokeball and yell "(random pokemon who has the ability to fight whatever pokemon) I CHOOSE YOU!!!" Ash clearly had knowledge of all of his Pokemon because how else would he know who he can rely on to fight the battle? He found the pokemon, trained them, and equipped them. Tell me that does NOT sound like God?!?!?

ok so maybe I just compared God to a 90s pop culture sensation and I'm ok with that!

wait maybe this was a little bit deep...

at any rate getting a tattoo of pickachu is now acceptable!!!!

Taylor Swift, love songs, and Christmas

So this weekend my friends had a wonderfully amazing xmas party. Small guest list. Big laughs.

It felt great to not be the funny person for the evening. I mean I was in the presence of some real comedians! But the best part of the night was when I got Taylor Swift'd!!! My bro stands up and wants to make a speech and gives this toast:

I would like to thank my sister Shaderi for texting me and telling me about this party. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't even know about it. I mean she made me check my email and I really want to thank her for telling me about this. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT MY TOAST IS ABOUT!!!!!!!! I really wanna thank...

At this point it doesn't even matter about what else he said because I was given a moment and then it was RIPPED away from me!! Everything inside of me DIED! "i'm gonna let you finish but..." it was kanye and taylor xmas 2010 I promise you!!!!

On to the next part of my weekend LOVE SONGS!!

I have been making my own dj mix/glee mash-up of these 2 songs!!! Enjoy.

Well hope you enjoyed the songs!!! Merry Christmas!!!!!