Ok, so I’ve been getting a little excited lately with the video blogging, I know. But they’re fun (for me at least ;) Check out what happened after I got to where I was going in the blog below. The students at Juniata had fun freaking me out. And I starred in my own mini-version of The Blair Witch Project (emphasis on the ‘mini’)
Hope you like.
On my way to Juniata College in PA for a show and I got turned around just outside of Amish country. My GPS took me through a cemetary by mistake. Just passed a sign for ‘Fourth Street.’ And I think it might just be the fourth street.
Ever made.
My new favorite street sign.
They weren’t kidding…
I had to drive a 25-mile stretch where the speed limit was about 35 and I kept getting stuck behind horse-drawn carriages. I don’t wanna poke fun at anyone’s culture, but being Amish requires a level of dedication I just don’t possess. I respect it. I just don’t got it.
I have the most thoughtful friends… After all my complaining about the new $.o5 DC bag tax, and seeing how silly I looked a few weeks ago at CVS because I didn’t want to pay for a bag, my girlfriend Courtney sent me some reusable Eagles shopping bags AND a couple CVS bag tag coupons. CVS and the Iggles — my two favorite things!!! You’re the best Court. You know me so well. You made my month!
The other day my mom sent me one of those e-mail forwards that is supposed to warn women about some awful new threat to keep them safe. I’ve tried to discourage (that’s putting it lightly) everyone in my life from sending me forwards of any kind. But my mom thought that this one warranted reading — it was about a man who told a woman she dropped money so she’d open her car door late at night at a gas station. I’ve seen this e-mail numerous times over the past couple years. But she wanted me to confirm to her that I’d read it — just in case it wasn’t a hoax. Below is the thread of our e-mail convo:
—– Original Message —–
From: Linda Jackson
To: Me
Subject: Please Read This For Me…Your Mom
Sent: Jan 9, 2010 08:39:14 AMErin,
You travel so much, and often at night…I just wanted you to read this,because (even if it is one of those hokey…too much time on your hand…stop sending me emails) its possible..read it PLEASE…M.Subject: A RAPIST’S NEW TRICK…
===================================
From: Erin Jackson
To: xxxxxxxx@verizon.net
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: Please Read This For Me…Your Momjust wanted to let you know i read this. 3 years ago ;) hahaha. But thanks, and rest assured, this would never happen to me b/c I haven’t carried cash since the nineties ;)
===================================
From: Linda Jackson
To: Me
Subject: Please Read This For Me…Your Mom
Sent: Jan 9, 2010 03:05:45 PMOK Miss Smart —, don’t come up kidnapped or raped…or you’re gonna have HELL to pay!
love,
M
I think it’s important to point out that she censored the smart ‘ass’ not me.
Guess if I come up assaulted, she’s gonna kick my ass. That’s my mama! Too funny. ;)
OK, so after doing the interview featured in my last post, I began to think a lot about BeautifulPeople.com. I joked with friends about the audacity of the site — especially considering it’s the Internet and there’s no way to verify that any of the site’s members are really as attractive as their photos suggest (or if they’re even the same people at all). But the more I thought about it, the more interested I became in what the application process was actually like. Soooo, I decided to do what I’d like to call an in-depth investigation and apply myself.
Yes, really.
So click play… and find out if I’m a beautiful person or not! ;)
So in my effort to obtain a life this year, I resolve to do at least one fun, out of the ordinary (for me) thing each week. I hope today’s outing wasn’t my first and last as I’m really bad with keeping resolutions…
This morning I went ice skating at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink. The urge hit me out of nowhere yesterday, which is crazy because I hadn’t been skating in at least 20 years — since my cousin Tanya and I used to skate at the ice rink in Old Bridge, NJ when we were kids. But it sounded like fun so I got up this morning, bundled up and headed downtown. Found a great parking space right in front of the Archives on Constitution and I went on in.
When I went to rent my skates the guy in the booth (the only other Black person at the rink) said, “You better hold on to the railing.” Haha. Damn stereotypes! Just because I’m Black doesn’t mean I can’t ice skate — it means I can’t swim. Duh…
Out on the ice it was kind of a rough at first. I took the skate booth guy’s advice and held on to the railing for my first few go-rounds. But then it started to come back to me… There was a little European girl skating circles around me, but that seemed about right ;) Little by little I moved further into the rink and after about 15 minutes or so I was doing pretty well if I do say so myself!
After about 45-50 mins. I was done so I walked around the sculpture garden for a bit, and then headed into the cafe for coffee and to warm up some. It was a really nice outing! Hopefully more life-getting to come. Please stay tuned and if you wanna come along for my next skating trip, just lemme know!
I met a man today who asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a comedian, and he asked, “Well, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
A bit insulted, I replied, “I’m doing it.”
“You can’t possibly be a comedian and consider yourself a grown up,” he said.
“Well, it’s how I pay my grown up mortgage…” I said. And I guess that’s all that really matters. There’s no need for me to defend what I do to this ass. There are millions of people who aren’t fortunate enough and/or legitimately can’t afford to do what they love for a living. But there are also people who just don’t have the balls to follow their dreams and instead choose to poo poo on everyone else’s.
I know lots of comedians who say they’ve known what they wanted to be since they were kids. Not me. If you’d asked me what I wanted to do with my life when I was growing up — as recently as 8 or 9 years ago even — I may have said a writer, a nurse, a teacher, a TV producer… Never in a million years could I have imagined I’d be doing this, but now that I am, I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love my job, and even during the rough periods, I feel like I made the right decision.
So BooHissHiss, Mister. You will not steal my joy.
The end.
So I went to CVS this afternoon — my first time in a store since the New Year. And for all my online complaining, I totally forgot about the city’s new shopping bag tax. I bought a quart of Listerine and a water pik and when the cashier asked me if I’d like to buy a bag, I reflexively answered, “NO!”
Because the principle of paying for bags just seems ridiculous to me. Sure I had more stores to visit and I looked like I just boosted half the oral hygiene aisle… but I was proving a point to the DC City Council (via a cashier none of them will ever meet who probably laughed her ass off when I left the store).
Exhale.
I recognize that this measure is supposed to help the city become greener and raise money for the cleanup of the Anacostia River — both good things. I just do not heart it. That being said, I’ll either be going out real soon to buy some large reusable bags or I’ll be bringing my own ‘lightly worn’ plastic bags (I’ve been stockpiling them for years) with me when I shop. Because my little protest accomplished nothing except for making me look a hot damn mess.
I’m learning to pick my battles. Haha, and there’s nothing I can do about this.