Devil In A New Dress

I can still remember the tears streaming down my face on April 13, 2016 when Kobe scored 60 points against the Utah Jazz in his last game as a Los Angeles Laker. The Lakers hadn't made the playoffs in three years and it had been six since they won a championship. It made my heart ache to know that Kobe retired with a Lakers record of 17-65, the worst in Lakers history. My tears were for all the joy Kobe had brought to LA mixed with tears that the organization's front office was being run into the ground. As Kobe bid his farewell to LA, I shifted my attention to the teams in the playoffs. Next to Kobe, my next favorite players were Kevin Durant (r.i.p. my fandom 2008-2016) and Russell Westbrook. The Oklahoma City Thunder were up against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. They managed to gain a 3-1 lead against the reigning champions. And just like that; it slipped away and the Warriors won the series sending them to the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. ...

In the last twenty years, something incredible has happened with NBA and fashion. I like to think it all started when Allen Iverson brought his hip-hop influenced style to the NBA and it has evolved quite a bit since then. Possibly my two favorite things in this World are the NBA and fashion so I have compiled a list of my top five best dressed NBA draft picks. In the words of Russell Westbrook, why not? 5. Devin Booker-2015 Phoenix Suns The color coordination here is impeccable 4. Lebron James- 2003 Cleveland Cavaliers All white- bold choice my friend. I'm not mad. 3. Shaquille O'Neal- 1992 Orlando Magic This is pretty phenomenal considering it was 1992. 2. Brandon Ingram- 2016 Los Angeles Lakers Sleek and flashy. Perfect for LA. 1. D'Angelo Russell- 2015 Los Angeles Lakers Red, white, and a bowtie. Just how our founding fathers envisioned. Three out of five of the people on my list have played in Los Angeles so it's fair to say LA knows...

What happened to the days when you could agree to disagree? When you wanted to be in a room full of people with different opinions so that you could have an intellectual conversation and stimulate the growth of your mind? When everyone didn’t feel the need to say you’re wrong and fire you from their life because you thought differently? Today, people get offended by everything. You can’t say anything without pissing someone off. I would imagine this has always been the case but no one ever spoke up about it. I’ve been surrounded by people with different views my whole life. Been a Democrat, a republican, only to realize I live in the gray. I can’t fit all of my ideals in to one box so I live outside of it. Since I have been on both sides, I see both points of view. I know the argument someone else will make before they even make it. I respect everyone’s opinion. Since we are all entitled to that— our opinion. I’ve researched so many theories, watched a lot of documentaries, spent hou...

How do you know when it's the right time to end a relationship because it's not right or try and work things out? You hear it all the time. "Everything is always nice in the beginning," and the beginning usually lasts a while. You always want to think you're the exception and not the rule; it won't happen to you. But here you are, six months in to a relationship that is completely different from the one you had when it started. I moved in with my boyfriend about three months ago. I was convinced he was 'the one.' A nice guy who actually wanted a relationship and is an overall good human being. We lived two hours apart and didn't want to have distance between us. We wanted to be together all the time. I made the decision to move my life to him and we got an apartment together. Ever since, our relationship has been on the decline. The person I thought I knew is different from the person I live with. Living with someone provides a sort of intimacy...

Listen with your ears And not with your mouth You should do less talking And learn how to pout Shallow conversations Leading to the depths of nowhere My mind is having revelations Yours is full of hot air I'm thinking about the meaning of life And having anxiety attacks You don't know the meaning of strife It's like your brain is pitch black My soul is yearning for affection PDA of my conscience I guess I'll settle for what this is Love, I think that's what you call it

Ah, the first time. You have an expectation in your mind of how it’s suppose to go. And then there’s the reality of how it actually went. I can’t complain too much about my first time. I was lucky enough to have it be with someone who meant something to me. My high school boyfriend. We had been dating for a few months.  He was the first boy that looked at me like I was special. Most of us had an awkward phase in high school and mine was freshman year. Sophomore year I tried out for the cheerleading squad and got braces. Boys started to look at me and I felt pretty for the first time in my life. Now don’t get me wrong, I was still a nerd on the inside, but I had a pretty cool costume.  Fast forward to junior year and that’s when I started dating Steven. He hung out with the ‘in’ crowd. I’m not really sure why he liked me and I didn’t take it seriously at first, but there he was. We went to formal together and it was the first time, actually the only time, I w...

Apparently, I was a bitch to Daisy when we first met. I hear that about myself all the time. She didn't know I was just a smart ass back then, but she's definitely figured that out by now. And she loves telling this story to people we meet. She came in with her little box full of supplies which was basically a portable cubby. I guess I made a sarcastic comment about how people wouldn't use those at our store. She didn't realize I was being sarcastic because I had the exact same box when I was a sales rep. She just looked at me like she thought I was mean but would never be mean back to me. That's the story my best friend Daisy loves to tell people about how we met. We actually met a couple times before this happened, but I obviously didn't make a strong impression before because this is the story she remembers and that's fine with me. I never knew it at the time, but it was the beginning of the best friendship I've ever had. After a couple of month...

Feeling lonely is one of the worst feelings in the world. Being alone doesn't necessarily mean you're lonely, but when you're alone and lonely, you can get sucked in to the deepest hole of despair. I've felt like a loner most of my life even when I was surrounded by my family and friends but I never realized how much my loved ones helped put a band aid on those feelings. Loneliness is one of the major accelerators of depression. It's not the loneliness itself that causes the depression, but usually there's a trigger and some type of external factor that pushes you in to a downward spiral where you feel so low, you don't think you'll ever make it out alive.   I'm sure everyone has uttered the phrase "I feel depressed" at one point or another. It's usually an exaggeration of their feelings and they are trying to make a point to people that they are feeling down.   "Things will get better." "It could be wo...

People think Kurt was crazy for killing himself. I don't think he was crazy as much as he was aware of all of the things going on around him that some people are ignorant to. Not like it's a bad thing, but it can definitely make you crazy. Makes you question life. When you really think about all of the bad stuff that happens in the world and how evil corporations can be because of their self serving interests.   Most of the people in this world are just working to support the top 1%. Our water is poisoned. Our food is filled with disease causing ingredients. Our planet is dying and we are killing it. There are violent protests because the government is trying to create the new world order and take away our rights. We are slaves to the dollar. And we are American so we are naïve to it all happening. They say ignorance is bliss and it is. That's why some people go crazy with their own thoughts and and feelings of anguish. Kurt wasn't crazy. He was a genius. He wa...

Just for a second Let the light shine in What was once a dark room   Existence   Slowly The room grew brighter each day Until the dark clouds emerged Back with the seasons changing The light that entered Now dark again Flicker of ray, now just a glimmer   Rooms dark again Curtains drawn Suppose to be temporary But the horizon never seems to end

Our lives, Filled with meaningless distractions Glaring phones , Prompting individualistic actions   Can't tell you all the candidates R unning for the Oval Office, But I know what hair color Kylie Jenner is rockin'   Media is the silent drug Hollowing our souls Burning our brains And all for what?   Ignoring the world To be consumed by technology Our intentions shallow By our new global philosophy   Perceptions Being passed off as reality Actuality Being distracted by vanity   Minds numb What's really going on? We are turning away our experiences Giving it up for a life we put on  

Alone in a crowded room Laughs, screams, music, chatter The silence is deafening The louder it gets   Sips of whiskey Scent lingers from my lips I say hi to a stranger Don't remember how I know him   His name,yes,  H is face, yes But what is it to know someone? And do they really know if I exist ?   Clouds of mint smoke Mixed with the stench of cigarettes The sound of bubbles Blowing out sin   Inhale, remember Exhale, forget Close my eyes Pretend to be alone   In a crowded room Surrounded by strangers Whose only names are known But not motives and character   Alone

A little over a month ago, I realized that I was concerned more with other people's lives than my own. It wasn't blatantly obvious, but wasting time on social media got in my head in ways that I didn't even realize. It's not that looking at my feed made me unhappy, but I was angry at myself for all the time I was wasting. I picked up my phone and the next thing I knew, an hour went by and I hadn't done anything productive with my life. I started to really think about the effect it was having on my mental health scrolling through feeds all day and, without even thinking, comparing my routine moments with other people's highlight reels. I realized that instead of working on myself, I was wasting time concerned with what others were doing. I decided to go on a social media diet. No Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter. I told myself I would take notes of how I felt each day but after a couple days, I stopped doing that. The notes I did happen to jot down we...

"Selfless: Concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own " They use phrases like "mamas boy" but I am the definition of what it means to be a "mamas girl." My weekends as a kid were spent waking up Saturday morning, watching "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" and then going shopping with my mom. After that, we would come home, she would cook, and I would go play outside with my friends until it was time to eat. So it's no surprise back to school shopping was one of my favorite times of year. Getting to pick out a different wardrobe for each day of the week and buying school supplies. The joys were much simpler since we didn't have iPads or cell phones back then. Of all the times I spent shopping with my mom when I was a kid, I'll never forget going back to school shopping when I was 12. I was in junior high starting 7th grade which was a horribly awkward time, but if I have to think back about ever...

This has been a long time coming and I’m surprised I waited this long but here it goes.  You represent everything that is wrong with society. Every day us regular people sit by and watch as your family gains more wealth and notoriety, while not contributing  anything beneficial to humanity. Everyone hates you yet the media glorifies you to keep people’s ignorant minds off the issues that matter. You are obsessed with your looks, selling cheap, shitty products to the masses and taking selfies daily to show off your plastic, constructed bodies.  All of that fame and wealth and nothing positive to give back to society. I don’t even care about how your family got famous (Kim sucking Ray J’s dick, to be exact). I haven’t heard of any of you going back to college to get a degree, starting a charity to give back to the less fortunate, trying to better your MINDS in some way.  No. Instead, the anti-christ, queen bitch of a mother who you call Kris has a charity in th...

Have you ever thought about why legislators are trying to prevent a ban on plastic bag use? Plastic is manufactured by oil companies  with the chemical BPA and generates billions of dollars in revenue every year. Once plastic is made, it can never be broken down. It NEVER goes away. The plastic bag you used 10 years ago is floating around somewhere in the ocean getting ingested by animals. There are millions of tons of plastic floating around our oceans and affecting our animals and our planet. Plastic is a transport for harmful chemicals which cause cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses. The fish that you eat for dinner has very likely been contaminated by these toxins because of the high amount of plastic in our oceans.  BPA is everywhere. The receipt the cashier handed you was covered with BPA and is now in your body. BPA also contains estrogen. Girls are starting puberty at a younger age because of the high amounts of estrogen in plastic which we dr...

The amount of people glaring at the screen of their smartphone seems to keep increasing. When we seem to get tired of a particular app, another one comes along to keep your attention on your device instead of on each other. Has anyone ever thought about the fact that social media is making us more and more antisocial as time goes by? Think about the last time you were with a group of your friends and how long everyone spent staring at Instagram or sending snaps via Snapchat. The funny thing is you see people in snaps and partying or having a great time but what you don't see, is the behind-the-scenes footage of everyone going back to looking at their phone as soon as the snap is over. I'm not trying to preach because I'm just as guilty as the next person. I have to make a conscious effort to not look at my phone if I'm around people. It's just so hard to avoid your phone when you are bored and you know you have it as an option. ...

Just when society had finally figured out all of the advertisements in magazines were setting unrealistic ideals by using photoshop, along comes Instagram. Filters upon filters and editing applications that allow you to give yourself a glowy look and remove imperfections. Go from looking basic, to Beyonce, in a matter of seconds. To take things even further, we don't even know what's real anymore. I follow a bunch of fitness pages and see big asses upon gigantic asses claiming to have grown by doing squats. For the asses that are real, they are impressive.  But after watching a few videos of butt augmentations, I am convinced half of the booty pictures I see on Instagram are fake. So why do I care? Because I work out hard at the gym and have made some big improvements, but still wonder how some people grow asses over night and compare myself to that standard like most other people. With the popularity of IG, has grown the amount of people who are body builders. Ho...

I awoke to a New Years Day surprise with Kanye West releasing his new single, “Only One.” I couldn't help but fight the feeling of my  eyes watering up as I read the emotionally charged lyrics Kanye posted on his website with the song.  I held back tears in feeling empathy, anticipation and excitement.  Listening to the song, I forget that it is Kanye singing from the perspective of his late mother, Donda West,   and not actually her voice. You can feel his pain, loss, and heartache with the intimate view on what goes on inside his head now that he has had his first child. “Only One” features Paul McCartney accompanying on keyboard in the background which is a much different tune from Yeezus , where he screamed and yelled his misogynistic point-of-view throughout the album.  This song makes me wonder: is the new album going to be the next 808’s & Heartbreak ? Will the entire album be Kanye singing, or just this song?  The one thing th...

It's been about three months since I've written a post. What better way to come back then by writing about the best invention that you don't know about: TouchTunes. Yes. TouchTunes. The jukebox that has a variety of music and that I spend more money on than I do buying drinks. You may not know about TouchTunes, but have probably passed by one, not knowing it was there. I have been to a lot of places where no one is even playing music from the thing until I show up. It's usually hidden in a corner and no one sees it until some drunk guy stumbles over to it trying to play Uncle Kracker or some random country song.  But I still haven't told you the best part about TouchTunes. There's an app. Yes. An app. Play all the music you want without leaving your barstool and by the click of a button on your smartphone. This provides an endless amount of entertainment when you hit play next and play a hip hop song and continue to bother the drunk guy waiting to hear ...