Lunch

February 26, 2006

Lunch

I know, I know...I promised I was going to give an update on last Thursday's Black Faces in High Places luncheon, and here it is Sunday and I'm just now getting to posting. Not that I haven't been thinking about lots of things I've wanted to write about. I have. Truly. But I've been so busy thinking about it all...life, love and the pursuit of happiness, (or more like the lack of pursuit) that I haven't actually written one single word.

Here, in no particular order, are the things I'm thinking about: (insert drum roll!)

I need to get tickets to the Depeche Mode show in Las Vegas.

This should prove to be quite a feat since they aren't playing in LA, and this means competing with everyone from SoCal, Arizona and Nevada for tickets. They are playing Coachella but I don't think that should count as being local since it is 135 miles away. In traffic, that's four hours each way in the car. I'd go but I can't take festivals like that. By the way, I'm adoring DM's video to "Suffer Well." Nicely done. I love Marty as a bride.
I'm glad the Olympics are over. I could not take another news story about how Team USA sucks because they didn't win gold every single time. Hello? Calling all insular Olympic watchers! Aren't there something like 200+ countries at the Olympics? It sure felt that way during the parade of nations on opening night. Can't some other countries get a chance? We should be celebrating the fact that people the world over know how to whup a$$ at the Giant Slalom instead of hyping up Bode Miller's ability to get trashed on and off the slopes.
My mom hasn't spoken to me since I came back home from my brother's funeral. Don't be too alarmed or think her not speaking to me is highly unusual. Believe me, it's not. This happens fairly frequently. The thing that reflects negatively on me is that I have a hard time telling people who ask me in a very well meaning way, "So how's your mom doing?" that I truly can only guess how she's doing based on what I've heard from other relatives. Telling someone that my mom probably believes she is punishing me for something, or is taking her anger out on me by not speaking to me is just awkward and weird. Which is why I'm writing about it here, right?
Olinga asks more thoughtful questions about God than anyone I know in LA. We adults, we think we know everything there is to know about God, faith and religion. We stop asking questions. Olinga wants to know why, if he's prayed to God and has asked for God's help, does Toussaint still keep taking his Batman toys?
Tomorrow will be four weeks of no coffee or chai. I have more restful sleep and I'm more alert during the day. However, I'm not doing so great on not eating anything that comes out of a bag or a box.
Self Challenge 2006. Do you want to do this with me? You know you do! Come get fit and healthy (or at least healthier) with me. I think I'm also going to start doing yoga because my friend Jenny tells me I need to relax. I think she's right. Either relax or take anger management classes.
I yelled at Olinga twice today. Oh, I worry that I will turn into the kind of mother I swore I'd never be.
One week on Myspace and I have 13 friends. Does this mean that I'm popular or not? This website would have us all believing it's the quantity of friends that counts. We all know that's not true. Right?
At the Black Faces in High Places luncheon, it was strictly the Ebony/Jet crowd. Still, I realized Us Magazine really is onto something with their feature, "Stars! They're just like us!" Here are a few observations:

A) Tina and Mathew Knowles do not look happily married. She had on a very tight outfit, and could stand to make very good friends with a trainer. It sounds mean, I know, but I do feel that if you have oodles of cash and don't have to do 9-5 (or 8-6) then you really have no excuse to not be in fabulous shape, even if you are pushing 50. During the lunch, she spent a great deal of time grimacing into her plate and blotting her very red lipstick. When they came to the front to accept their award, he did all the talking and she just looked a bit sour while he made jokes about how she'd tell him later that he talked too much. For a former hairdresser, she sure was bashful.

B) Ananda Lewis must be a fantastic actress. She's coming to 100.3 having done Teen Summit, and having been a star on MTV. She is now a sidekick to the talentless John Salley. Ananda does a great job portraying her personality as being very energetic and playful. And you'd really believe she and John are BFFs if you'd been at this luncheon. But I wonder if she goes to work everyday and thinks about the fact that she's more qualified for the head job than a has-been NBA player. I wonder if she screams in her car when she sees the billboards and thinks they should be reading, "The Ananda Lewis Block Party" instead. Well, you'd never know it from their peaches and cream interactions. All frivolous, playful banter. I felt like I was watching a stage show instead of a couple of mcs for a luncheon. All of you who think your boss is underqualified and/or incompetent, perhaps we should all take a page from Ananda's playbook. Get ready to earn the office Oscar or Golden Globe for your performance.

C) The Regent Beverly Wilshire does serve fried chicken, greens, and sweet potatoes... Not to mention the mac and cheese and cornbread! Yes, the hotel that Richard Gere's character in Pretty Woman brought the prostitute with a heart of gold to, does have soul food on the menu. Or at least they serve it during Black History Month to a primarily Black audience. The kitchen staff probably called up a local Kentucky Friend Chicken and placed an order for 1000 pieces of extra crispy. Now, if I'd paid $5,000 for a table at this luncheon, I'd really have been hot. As it was, I was thankful they didn't bust out a watermelon sorbet.

D) Macy Gray is really tall in real life and her momma looks just like her. Well, maybe her moms didn't have the pink and brown plaid suit on. They were cool though.

E) Jagged Edge came dressed in their thugged out hip-hop gear. Guys, get a life and a stylist. Please. Pretty please.

F) Chaka Khan received an award for her foundation. She sang two songs, including "Ain't Nobody". She sounded fantastic and got so into it that she lost an earring in the process. Her energy was so positive. I was loving it.

G) Ladies and Gentleman, Introducing: Token Blackness. I wondered for two weeks if I would have been asked to go to this luncheon by our boss if I wasn't Black. I started to wonder if this here yellow mixed girl was Black enough to hang at a luncheon such as this. What if I gave a disappointing performance and my Blackness stock price dropped? I felt like a part of a Dave Chappelle skit. I mean, I know all the words to Chaka's song. I recognize Jagged Edge. I go up and snap a picture with Tony Muhammad and tell him I've been to Mosque Maryam . I know that Tina Knowles' clothing line is House of Dereon, named after her mom who was a Creole seamstress. At times, I wanted to yell out, "Did I pass the Black test?" Oops, I probably won't get 100%. After all, I turned down the soul food for a veggie plate. Sorry!