Big weekend here for us. Saturday is a holiday in the TMCY world. People are commencing.There likely will be a little alcohol blamed and conversation made as we celebrate in STL and KC this weekend. Here’s why:
It’s Cicely’s aka Asyoureditor’s birthday. She takes her birthday seriously, so wish her a happy one.
Also, Monica graduates with her MBA. And she paid for it with her money, brains and effort, so congratulations are in order …
… just not via text message.
___
Nokia Aeon Concept Phone. Doesn't seem as though texting would be easy from it. Good.
Next week we’re exploring the world of texting and other forms of communication. Thus, the theme. Here’s Raheem DeVaughn’s clever song about texting: “Text Messages”
If you don’t know, I (Damon) abhor texting. I think it’s of the devil. Yes, I do it from time to time. But yeah, don’t ever try to have a serious convo with me via text. There’s a good chance I will respond to your 160 characters with a phone call.
Anyway, the five random questions are a mix from Monica and Damon …
1. If you could text your favorite celebrity knowing he/she would respond, who would it be and what would you say?
2. If you could change or add a feature to your cell carrier’s text messaging service, what would it be?
3. What’s the most embarrassing text message blunder you’ve ever made (i.e. sending a message to the wrong “John/Mary”)? How did you recover?
4. What’s your favorite color, and why?
5. From the HolyDays & Spirits comments: What is your most memorable birthday, and why?
Only one link: I was having a good convo with Moni on Wednesday about the affects of society on biracial or multiracial children, and I thought this was a good read: Are Blacks Politically and Personally Prepared for the Multi-Racial Revolution? from Acts of Faith in Love and Life.
UPDATE: And this example of conversating is brought to you because of Travis’ comment on “Conversate:”
1. She’s not my favorite celeb, but right now I’d select Lauren London and my text message would say “smh, but congratulations!”
2. I would have every carrier be forced to limit people to 10 total text messages a day. No overages. Just 10 total, no more.
3. Sending a not-so-nice text to an ex’s then beau in ’04. smh at my youthful stupidity. Needless to say, I’ve grown up a lot since then and wouldn’t dare do anything that stupid again.
4. Green, the color of life.
5. My friend/colleague Jenee planned a b-day dinner for me at The PeachTree Restaurant in KC and what seemed like 30 or so friends & family members showed up in ’05. My mom, dad, stepmom, brother and a host of friends came out and celebrated. I didn’t realize people appreciated me that much until that moment. It was a great night.
Re: your response to #2. You are such a killjoy. Geez.
you remember that Chris Rock skit about pricing up bullets, and how people would be frugal concerning shooting people?
Same logic applies to limiting everyone’s text messages. People would be forced to talk to each other, and would have to ration out their text messages for useful purposes.
Just not all free and willynilly. lol.
Cicely, Have a great birthday weekend/week/month!
I celebrate for a week, longer if I can get away with it…lol.
Monica, congratulations! That is wonderful!
STL & KC, party hard!
@shawnta: If only you understood. There’s been a countdown going on for Cicely b-day (this is every year) since April. lol.
Funny. I can definitely relate. I’m the same way about my birthday (every year
).
@shawnta: Thank you so much! Yes, I’ve been counting down since April. I decided last year to shortent he countdown. Ususally I start in Feb
Thanks Shawnta. There’s a running joke in my family now that I just keep graduating to get gifts…smh. Gotta love ‘em.
You’re welcome. That’s no small feat. Yup, gotta love ‘em (while at the same time collecting the gifts & $$$).
1. I don’t really have a favorite celebrity but I guess I’d text Alicia Keys and ask her if she really did break up Swiss Beats’ marriage because I’m nosey like that.
2. I can be longwinded and like to get everything I have to say out in one text so I’d eliminate the 160 character limit.
3. I haven’t ever made a text “mistake” but there was this one time that I just kept texting this guy I was seeing over and over again because he stood me up and then wouldn’t answer the phone. (Crazy I know)
4. Purple, the color of royalty and the first color I ever said.
5. My 7th birthday when I had a sleep over with 7 of my friends and my mom planned all these games for us. It was great.
1. I would text Jamie Foxx & ask him to call me. I don’t mind texting but like @Damon, I can’t, don’t & won’t have serious conversations via text. I would ask Jamie to call me because I once read that he doesn’t ever want to get married because he’s only heard negative things about marriage and because a lot of the married people he knows are unhappy. So, I would want to discuss his perspective on marriage & share my experience with marriage (thus far) with him.
2. I would make it more difficult to send duplicate text messages. It is entirely too easy for people to send the same message multiple times. Of course, most of the time this isn’t a phone or carrier issue; it’s an operator issue.
3. Like @Tam, I’ve never had any real texting blunders although one time I had to double (no, triple) check to make sure that a certain message was sent to my husband and not someone else by mistake.
4. I have several favorite colors (shocker, I know – LOL!
) but I’ll just list one. Black. It is sexy, slimming, strong, beautiful, serious, bold & basic.
5. One of my most memorable birthdays is my 18th birthday. I was a senior in high school. My friends decorated my locker & my best friend shouted me out on our school news channel where she was an “anchor”. My family had flowers delivered to me during first period, candy delivered during second period & a gift delivered during third period (via my sister). During lunch they had a singing telegram (it was a clown – I DID not & still don’t like clowns – their idea of an inside joke) serenade me with the birthday song & present me what seemed like 50 balloons. Senior year, I had half days so, I was free to leave during or after lunch. Although I was initially embarrassed, I’m happy I stayed for lunch that day & didn’t ruin their surprise. It was great; the ENTIRE cafeteria joined in for the birthday song.
@shawnta: Interesting concerning Foxx. There’s a letter to him that’s in the works …
I am beyond shocked that you only listed one color. You must share the others now. lol.
@Damon: Is it a harsh letter? I like Jamie just thought a marriage conversation would be interesting. I already know the answer to this (I think)…”just be patient”, right? LOL.
#2 – Oh, wait! I JUST thought of a better answer for this question. No text forwards, especially the ones that start playing music when you open them.
There are texts that play music? *Flavor Flav’s voice* Woooooowwwwwww.
Yes. I have no idea how to send them because I’ve never done it but I’ve rec’d them. They look like regular text messages until you open them & they start playing a song. Craziness.
If someone ever sends me a text forward with a song on it … I might just block that person’s ability to text me …
1. Idris Elba: When are you going to propose to me?
2. Stop asking me if I want to add a number to my contact list
3. I’ve been pretty good about not making an embarrassing faux pas
4. Blue, it’s the color of the ocean and I’m a beach bum at heart
5. All of mine were really cool. I truly don’t have one that stands out.
@aye: You’re very welcome. Live it up & enjoy. Idris is fine (but obviously, you already know this). Did you see this? http://www.therundown.tv/headlines/music-headlines/idris-elba-will-be-releasing-his-debut-album-this-year/
I didn’t, but THANK YOU!!! He doesn’t know it yet, but he will propose
Happy birthday! Party hard.
@aye: All I’m going to say is that I got you pretty good, didn’t I? lol.
@Damon: You did. Thank you so much!
@Monica: Thank you, and Congratulations!!
I have one edit to Damon’s congrats: My job paid 80% of the expenses
1. I would ask Brian McKnight if he would write and record a song especially to/for me.
2. I would ask Sprint to allow recipients of messages to see who else received the message (like how email works)…too many times I’ve wondered if Player Pete sends the “What are you up to tonight?” text to multiple people to see who responds first…
3. I know two guys with the same nickname. One is saved in my phone as their full name, the other by nickname. The short of it, I sent a very personal message to the platonic that was intended for the intimate. Eh, well.
4. Purple. No profound reason.
5. My most memorable was 21. For anyone that knows what I was doing in Fall of 2003 you know why
@moni: I can only imagine the Fall of 2003 …
on 1, I’ve got a B. McKnight challenge for you … I’ll explain after this weekend.
on 2, Sprint actually does this with picturemail, and I’ve caught a few people sending pics to more than just me and giving me numbers I DON’T NEED. And clearly wouldn’t use at this point in life.
on 3, Yikes? That just seems messy.
@monica: #2 is a great addition. I had a friend that I thought was sending messages only to me come to find out when I talked to another friend that she was sending these out to everyone.
congrats to cicely & monica!
1. i have no fav. celebrity, but… if i could, i’d text brandy and ask her can i go to the studio with her. i’d also text chris paul and ask him to marry me.
2. i wish you could see text messages like conversations on Gmail, so you wouldn’t have to go back to see what you/the recipient last said….sounds reasonable, right?
3. um, sorry i haven’t really had any awkward moments with texting. i think i’m pretty good with making sure nothing goes wrong…in that manner.
4. kelly green (and green in general) has been my favorite color since i was 10, and it will always be. i don’t know why, it has a certain beauty & uniqueness that just draws me in. as i’ve gotten older though, violet has begun to run a close second.
5. 22nd bday (just last year, i know…. *shrugs*). me & my best friend had our first HUGE blowout, and the day before my bday, my parents help me buy my first & current car, which is FRQ#4, by the way.
ps. told you i’d never text you. abhor? yeah, you’ll never see a text from me.
@meka:
on 1, why Brandy?
on 5, blowout as in fight or blowout as in party?
p.s. texting me is only bad when you ask me stuff that’s not meant for texting … We’ll delve in to this more next week. i’m smhing now.
1. Rob Brown (he hasn’t hit it BIG yet, but he’s wonderfully fine). I’d text him, “Boy, I’d sop you up with a biscuit.”
2. Make it free, for everyone, all the time.
3. No awkwards really
4. Lavender. Its just light and fluffy and grand. I had a unicorn poster and my whole room theme was unicorns with lavender backgrounds when I was little.
5. My 22nd bday. I was in Panama studying abroad and I had a bangin party with kegs, liquor, cake, DJs, the works. One of my best homegirls even flew down from Boston to kick it. At midnight, I had them play T.I. Be Easy and loop the verse, “I’m 22 and a vet in the gaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmeee!!” I woke up the next day (my actual birthday) and didn’t know what day it was.
I was crunk that I could have a hot ass party in a whole ‘notha country. My flyness is cross-cultural and multilingual.
Rob Brown is a cutie and he’s smart.
@gizzle: “Finding Forrester” is one of my fav movies, simply because of the smart aleck character Rob Brown plays.
@Gizzle: Your rule for texting is a good one. I’m sure that would send a lot of folks into a spiral though. The unlimited texts for everyone would probably make me crazy too (even though I don’t mind texting except for serious stuff) because then I’d receive even more music forwards and forwards. LOL.
happy birthday cicely and congrats monica
1. I’d text Maxwell and tell him thanks for coming back on the scene. I love his new song.
2. add a blocking feature. Is that possible?
3. no blunders
4. yellow, it’s a happy color
5. 2005 @ The Roots Grammy jam. I met my best friend who will soon be my sister-in-law.
@garcelle: Yeah, I can’t wait to hear the rest of Maxwell’s album … the playlist seems like it could be on some “What’s Going On” type stuff. …
Happy Birthday to Cicely and Congrats to Monica!
1. Idris Elba: Call me and say something sexy (in that ACCENT!)
2. Text BLOCK from certain numbers.
3. Thankfully, I have NO stories to report. I’m super careful about that.
4. Green is my favorite color and I don’t know why…. but yell ow is my favorite also, bc it just brightens things up.
5. My most memorable birthday was my 28th, just last November… me and some friends went to Miami to celebrate. We went to Dwayne Wade’s party one night and I was to’ up on Patron. ahhh, fun times. lol
@sunny: Patron/birthday = (channel your inner Bernie Mac) Trouble, Trouble.
LMAO. My eyes were crossing and I couldn’t control them, I was sober on the inside so I hated it. lol
I have so many stories about my friends, Patron and birthdays. Unfortunately, none of them will see the light of day …
… because they might bring out my drunken tales … smh.
Hey Nicki, check with your cell carrier on the block feature. Most have it but you have to call to find out how to use it.
1.I hate texting more than anything in the world..so I wouldnt.
2. opting out of texting all together.
3. Back in 99 I called my boss by accident at 3 am in the morning on a sat..nite..no texting involved. He thought it was funny..no recovering involved.
4. What’s your favorite color, and why? ..pastels..why do i have to rationalize a favorite color???
5. From the HolyDays & Spirits comments: What is your most memorable birthday, and why? i seem to remember when i turned 1…it was a cute little birthday.
happy birthday Cicely…congrats Monica.
@comeback: Dag, we’re both old school head to receiver types, huh? Go figure …
You don’t have to rationalize your color. I was just curious to see if there was a story behind it.
And you ain’t right for sayin’ ’1′ … lol.
@CBG: You remember your first birthday?
Impressive. I don’t think I remember anything before the age of 5.
I’m with you…I hate texting. I’d rather someone just call me instead. I do like using IM on the computer though. Go figure.
1. I don’t really have a favorite celeb. So for grins maybe I’d text Oprah and ask her if I can dig for loose change in the couch.
2. Kill all texting.
3. Don’t use it. So no mistakes. Although some underage girl once sent me nekkid pics of herself to me thinking she was sending them to her boyfriend who’s number was very close to mine. My wife was mad at me and I didn’t even do anything. smh.
4. Black
5. We never really made a huge deal about the b-day growing up. There were always parties, but never some huge blowout type thing. I’m happy to have a quiet day with the family. Fortunately for me my Moms isn’t on the intertoobs so I’m not gonna get punked on that statement. lol.
@Travis, @CBG & @Damon, y’all (yup, I said y’all) remind me of my friend who refuses to respond to even the simplest of texts. She is just like y’all. She doesn’t get why someone would TYPE a message as opposed to just dialing & talking when they’re HOLDING A PHONE in their hands…the caps are for the emphasis she puts on it each time she goes off about it.
First off, Happy Birthday! Enjoy. & Congrats Monica, great accomplishment. Thumbs up!
1. Jadakiss: I effing love you, I want to jump your bones, & why does Styles P looks so angry all the time.
2. Enough with the FWD bullish.
3. Haven’t made a faux txt [yet].
4. White, so pure & crisp.
5. My first bday at the job [I have now], I got a singing telegram [who knew those still existed] & 3 edible arrangements from my husband. All with plums and strawberries. So sweet!
@ashbunnie: Welcome, but you’re gonna get about 10 side-eyes for your affection toward Jadakiss … lol/smh … I would ask “why?” … But why ask why?
http://www.verysmartbrothas.com/why-ask-why/
A singing telegram would be interesting … was it your husband singing?
@ashbunnie: The birthday singing telegram & edible arrangements is so sweet. What song was used for the telegram?
@ Damon, LOL. I have no clue why I love Jada. Maybe it’s the voice. Have no clue, but I do. My husband wasn’t singing, some white dude. He was actually pretty good. Did a lil 2step and everything.
@ Shawnta` he sang, a verse and the chorus to “isn’t she lovely”.
@ashbunnie: That is so sweet.
and I love the “haHa”. Swoon*
happy birthday Cicely…congrats Monica. i’m getting the momentum to get the GMAT over with so hearing MBA graduations are always affirmations I love.
1. fav celebrity txt: jill scott–can i please have my make over done by your style team? specifically my hair styled how u had it in dave chappelle’s block party movie?
2. txt forwards & have ppl blocked: i’m offically thru after this whole KFC debacle. no lie, i got more txts & emails ’bout that foolishness as if chicken was on a shortage!
3. most embarrassing txt: i don’t really think i’ve had any
4. fav color: green. i look fabulous in it and there’s so many hues. not 2 mention when i look out the air plane window at our earth below this color is most beautiful.
5. most memorable bday: sky diving highest drop in florida in cocoa beach for my 21st. def the dopest thing ever.
@NN: Skydiving? Wow. Were you scared? Would you do it again? I want to go skydiving but it must be before I have a child.
i love thrills/roller coasters so i was extremely excited. scary part was the forms participants must sign indemnify the company & the equipment company from any law suit from my family, or 2 generations down the line. reading the fine print on the forms def set me back. but it was worth it. if you don’t REALLY like roller coasters, don’t do it ’cause it’s the ultimate sky ride.
my next ‘girl u crazy’ adventure will be cage shark diving. the best place is in s.africa off the coast of cape town so it’s gonna be a grip. but folks who’ve done it all say it was great. i’ve been snorkling in the barrier reef in the florida keys but i hear scuba diving is much different.
@NN: I’m so glad nobody thought to forward me any KFC texts …
and just some Q’s i have:
-what’s maxwell’s new album named? i saw him in concert this past fall and he is sick live. def check him out if u can.
-a.keys really broke up swizzy’s marriage? say it ain’t so!?!
Max’s album is called “Black Summer’s Night” …
somebody else has to come thru on the A.Keys/Swizzy deal.
@NN: I’d love to see Maxwell live. I remember reading something about his new album being a series release of three albums. One this summer, one next summer & one the following summer…I don’t remember the title but I think Summer is in there somewhere.
i knew he needed some money ’cause no negro i know drops off the face of the planet, comes back out the closet, and goes on tour before a CD is even released without needing some cash to pay some bills. as far as i’m concerned he’s got l-boogie status: artists who can cut up & disappear, but still return & have their comeback CD go platinum by selling the albums out the trunk of their cars (no record label needed).
I am I the only person with an embarrassing text story? smh.
Aside from not wanting to have a serious conversation via text, the embarrassing text story may explain your hatred towards texting. LOL.
@shawnta: I’m glad you’re comfortable enough to come at me like that. I just literally laughed out loud so *lol*
Trust me, though. That has nothing to do with my hatred for texting, goofball. lol.
@Damon: Hilarious.
1. Rihanna- leave Chris alone.
2. not sure on this one.
3. I sent a crass forward to certain people on my friends list and it accidentally went to a family friend whom I had been talking with to try and get a job.
4. Purple – it’s just pretty
5. I believe it was my 23rd because my BFF and I did some questionable things that night that will stay between she and I. It’s great to have a friend that you can do and say the craziest most outrageous (and maybe even sometimes mean) things around and they won’t judge you later for it….
@jlbd: that Rihanna text is one she needs to have malfunction nd be sent to her 600,000 times over the course of the next six months. smh.
at 5, I remember that. smh. lol.
1. I would ask Fatih Evans wth she’s been up to.
2. Probably the character limit.
3. I haven’t had anything that embarrassing happen to me. Maybe just sending the wrong text to the wrong person.
4. Purple. I couldn’t tell you why. I just like it.
5. Nobody has ever really done anything that wonderful for me on a birthday. I’ve had two bday parties when I was kid with classmates. I turned 25 Sunday and went to Dallas with some friends to chill with my bestie. Things didn’t turn out as planned, but we still had a lot of fun. I wore a purple dress when we attempted to go out Saturday night, too.
ah, how we all hate the “attempts” to go out … smh.
1. Jay-Z – “Where the hell is Blueprint III? And will you please cut your damn hair!!”
2. I wish there was an autoreply option – sort of like the Out Of Office Reply in Outlook.
3. I usually proofread and review the “To: box” before hitting send. As I get better with time, I’ve learned to slow down and live the moment…and not rush to the next…with that new mentality, I don’t send things in a haste. However, I have received quite a few blunders to include pics of private parts…so inappropriate…blah!!
4. Green – represents growth; yellow – represents joy; black/white – represents classic.
5. Every birthday has been memorable…especially after my 25th when I started having daily activities that lead up to my “main” bday celebration…lol!!
1. I was gonna say Shaq…but I’m convinced that his text messages (much like his mere presence in a room) have the power to impregnate females, so I will go with my second choice, which is…Kanye West. I would ask him what he’s listening to at the moment. This was a hard question for me…because I don’t tend to really care about celebrities (probably because I am one).
2. Well, my phone can’t block texts, so that would be cool. Also, my worst vice is my forgiving nature and my inability to hold a grudge…so if my phone could have an “auto text-back” feature that would block past offenders’ texts AND text a greasy remark back to them, that would be GREAT.
3. I was second-chairing a deposition with a senior atty and I was observing him botch the WHOLE thing…I text messaged my paralegal, “This man is TOO OLD not to know what he’s doing! He is INCOMPETENT.” Yep. You probably guessed it…I was thinking so hard about this guy, that I text messaged him, instead of my paralegal.
4. Right now…it’s aubergine (also known as “eggplant”). It’s perfect for those of us with yellow/olive skin undertones, and it also makes brown eyes “pop.” Also, cerulean and turquoise are great for the summer…whenever it decides to get here.
5. My most infamous birthday was my 27th one…when my birthday was on a Thursday (my favorite day of the week for those of you who don’t know me) and I spent the whole day and night (until around 10pm) at work. I had to call all of my friends and tell them that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to my own bday party. Depressing.
My best birthday was my 26th…when I celebrated in Manhattan with all of my friends from law school, then came to Missouri and celebrated with some of my best girlfriends and my family in St. Louis (and I also looked fly as heck because I had just gotten off the Master Cleanse b.k.a. The Lemonade Diet)
Thank you, everyone, for the birthday love!! It is greatly appreciated
1. Not necessarily my fav celeb, but:
J.J. Abrams-How does it all end? No, don’t tell me….
2. I would install a delay after you hit send that allows you to stop the message from being sent. In case A. you sent it to the wrong person and/or B. you are sending a message out of anger or other emotion.
3. After I changed my #, I sent a mass text out telling everyone this was my new number and made some stupid joke that wasn’t funny. I also forgot to say who it was in the text so I got a whole bunch of angry “who is this” messages, and I had to re-text everyone.
4. Blue. I just like the range of colors and it makes me happy.
5. My 5th birthday. It was just a chill birthday in the backyard with all the neighborhood kids. I also got the anniversary cassette tape of all the best Sesame Street songs, and I still listen to it to this day.
1. Denzel- can we do lunch?
2. Sprint would hire the Verizon guys…I could text LUNCH to *3, and those bad boys would bring me grilled chicken from KFC with honey and butter for my biscuit.
3. Eek trying to express feelings for a crush in 160….
4. Green…because it ain’t easy being green.
5. Oh dang…each birthday has been a blessing, but I’m going to say 21. I actually got surprised!
1. i’d text ?uestlove and ask him if he could teach me how to play the drums & what he’s listening to these days [because his music library is HUGE]
2. the 160-characters thing. i hate it so much. it makes me appreciate BlackBerry Messenger so much more.
3. i’m mad paranoid with making sure the right text goes to the right person, so i’ve never had a blunder before *knocks on wood*
4. almost every color has been my favorite in my short 22 years, but for the last 3 years it’s been brown. i have no idea why.
5. my most memorable birthday was last birthday (my 22nd). i made these plans and almost all my friends bailed on me except my best friend from high school & her boyfriend. we ended up going to a club and getting trashed & having those pseudo-intellectual convos people have when they’re drunk. every week i remember something from that night i didn’t remember before, lol.