Nebulous Mooch

When my husband got home from his gig tonight he asked me if Esperanza Spalding had Brazilian parents. Apparently, he had a bit of a disagreement with someone about her ancestry. Someone was insisting that she was Brazilian and my husband insisted that she was African-American or what I sometimes refer to as North American Black. I find that it causes less confusion when living overseas.

Anyway, I went to Wikipedia to find out about her ancestry for certain. Instead, I learned that she deserves nothing. In fact, she is non-existent. I copied the page because I knew it wouldn’t be up long. Here it is.

Biography

Early life and education
WHO IS ESPERANZA SPALDING!?!? REVOKE HER GRAMMY. SHE DESERVES NOTHING! I FEEL SORRY FOR JUSTIN BIEBER… HE SHOULD HAVE WON THE GRAMMY. ESPERANZA SPALDING, YOU ARE NONEXISTENT!
Spalding grew up in the King neighborhood of Portland, Oregon,[6] a neighborhood she describes as “ghetto” and “pretty scary”.[7] Her mother raised her and her brother as a single parent.[8]
Spalding has a diverse ethnic background.[7][9] She notes, “My mom is Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American, and my father is black.”[10][11] She also has an interest in the music of other cultures, including that of Brazil,[12] commenting, “With Portuguese songs the phrasing of the melody is intrinsically linked with the language, and it’s beautiful”.[13]

Poor Justin Bieber. Well at least he has the privilege of existing.

The Super Bowl was yesterday and of course my husband was up all night watching the game. I opted to stay home and sleep. The only athletic event I’m every interested in watching is power breaking. There’s something thrilling in that moment before a person strikes a stack of fifteen boards when you’re wondering if he will break the boards or his hand. Now that’s a sport.

Anyway, I found this video and thought it was pretty funny.

I used to have quite a problem with depression, but that has gone away. I’m telling you this because today when I talked to my father on the phone he asked me if I was happy. “I mean you haven’t been depressed or anything have you?” he asked.

When I told him that I hadn’t he seemed pleased. Then he said, “That’s because you’re married now and you have a good husband.”

“That’s interesting,” I said. “I thought it was just because of all the butter I’ve been eating. Butter makes everything better.”

Don’t believe me. Try it. You’ll find that it’s true. I believe in butter.

I’ve been publishing the first draft of my latest novel on my other blog. The book is called Flying Lessons and it’s a work in progress. Check it out here.

If you have files on your computer that you might need in the future, but you’re not quite sure where to store them don’t keep them in your computer’s recycle bin. My husband emptied my recycle bin for me not to long ago. He thought he was doing me a favor, but I actually needed some of those files. Oh, well. You live and learn, apparently.

I’ve been editing my latest novel recently. Editing is hard work, but it needs to be done. I have books and books planned in my head, but I have to finish this one first.

Much like when I write, I like to listen to music when I edit. The editing music of choice this time is Little Elevator by Kirk Adams. If you don’t know that album, I feel sorry for you. You really should get to know it. Find out more about it here.

Just today my husband said, “Everyone writes stupid lyrics except for John Lennon and Kirk Adams.” If that’s not an endorsement I don’t know what is.

Just a quick note. The Mooch will start having a video component soon–as soon as I get my act together.

Sometimes when I go to my local grocery store I see a white family there who is raising a black girl. The girl is about five and every time I see them the girl’s skin looks all dry and ashy and her hair is dry and matted. I used to see families like this quite often when I went to college in Vermont and I always complained. If you’re going to adopt a child of a different ethnicity than yourself shouldn’t take some time to learn some simple things about how to care for that child. Can’t you see that your baby is ashy and something needs to be done about it? I just don’t understand.

In this day in age there are plenty of resources online to help white parents manage their black children’s hair. I look at some of these sites and they do a good job at explaining what to do about your child’s hair. My favorite site is Happy Girl Hair.

Today I was reading a post on Curly Nikki and she linked to a story about a white father who learned how to do his Ethiopian daughter’s hair. Even though he uses a plastic fork to make the parts he does a good job.

Once I applied for a job at the gym near my house. It was just a job at the front desk. Anyway, I waited and waited to hear back from them. When I finally received a letter in the mail from them it said something like, “Thank you for applying for the position. We’re sorry to inform you that we have no positions available. We were just trying to gauge the number of applications we’d receive if we did have a position available.”

What the heck is that all about? To this day it baffles me. I don’t think it’s true. I just think they didn’t want to hire me. No big deal, but why not send an average sorry-we’ve-already-filled-the-position letter? Who advertises for a job that doesn’t really exist? Craziness. I thought about it because I walked by that place today.

I went to a barbecue earlier this week. It was quite nice. I always like good food and good conversation and good food. At one point in the evening the conversation turned to Jane Austen. I can’t stand Jane Austen. I don’t understand the appeal at all. I’ve tried to read a few of her books and I just can’t do it and the movies…don’t even get me started. Anyway, I saw this video today on Feminist Mormon Housewives and I just had to post it. Apparently it was made by a YSA ward in LA. This is one way to make Jane Austen more interesting.

Recently in my quest for fitness, I’ve started doing chin-ups with my husband in the park. In this context chin-up means hanging from a bar and trying desperately to pull myself up, but not succeeding at all. I always thought I was strong, but it seems that I’m not strong enough. I need to start doing more strength building exercises. Maybe I could get the keys on my computer keyboard adjusted to provide me with some resistance while typing. That would make me stronger, wouldn’t it?

Despite the absolute failure my chin-up attempts are, I’m working some muscles. Who would’ve thought that just hanging from a bar would make you so sore?