Black Tie Lounge

With the holidays right aroudn the corner, I got a part-time job at a retail store. I applied Thursday and they called me with a schedule on Friday to let me know that they will take me on as a temporary hire. So I'm sitting in training and we are filling out all the important forms so that I can get paid. We come to the Direct Deposit form and our trainer holds up the form and raves about how we should get direct deposit. He lets us know that direct deposit is so much better than receiving a check in our hands. Then he further proceeds to tell us a story. He tells us that each Friday a truck comes to the store with our checks. If the truck breaks down or something happens all of those without direct deposit end up getting their checks late. The trainer goes on to remind us about last year's blizzard and how all the people that did utilize direct deposit had to wait weeks for their pay checks. Needless to say, he made his point about direct deposit. Well at the end of his r

Hind sight is always 20/20. Let me tell you what happened to me, starting from yesterday. I get a message from a company that I applied to via craigslist as a part-time writer. I'm desparate for work so of course I call back within the hour for further information. I speak with a gentleman who says that he wants to meet with me to do a writing test, which is very legit because most organizations have potential candidates complete one before extending an opportunity. So we agree on a meeting location and confirm that it will take place the following day. I ask what the name of the organization and he gives me an acronym to look up. So the next day comes and I get up before 6 a.m., which is crazy because I have not been on a working man's schedule considering. So I make it the metro station and am in transit to the meeting location. I'm running a little late so I call the gentleman to inform him of my potential tardiness. I get an answering machine, so I leave a message.

I FINALLY got a call from the VA Unemployment office. This is good news because I should be receiving my 3 months worth of benefit money soon. I REALLY need this. The only thing I'm nervous about is that my old boss will lie about what happened and I won't get my benefits. Dear God help a brother out on this one. I want my money! We'll see how this goes.

I love using random images and saying radom things just to throw people off. I guess you can say its my specialty when I'm in the right frame of mind. I spent my night applying to an Academic Counselor position with George Mason and going through my routine of finding modeling gigs on craigslist. As far as the Dream Talent Show I had to cancel practice this week because one of the guys in the band is sick. We had a good rehearsal last week so I'm confident that we can kill it with one more rehearsal. I got a job in retail. The only thing that I can say is that so far it has proven itself to be another job where no matter how hard you work, you get the same result. I'm keeping hope alive. I'm going on my first full year of living at home and close to 4 months without any consistent type of work. I've never seen my bank account get this low. The unemployment office has yet to schedule my screening interview and I was supposed to recieve my benefits back in August.

So apparently the video I found on Black Marriage Negotiations a couple of blogs earlier is a trend. I found several more videos that embellish similar themes. Although I don't agree with everything, they are hilarious to me because of the themes they perpetuate. Enjoy!

Last week was the birthday week so I only did the things that I was required to do. So, I left off talking about my first photoshoot as a model. It went great. Where else can I get 200 bones for under an hour's worth of work. It was great. This week is going to be just as good because I'm modeling accessories from de*nada for a runway show for Ready Set DC , which highlights the creative lifestyle for trendy individuals in DC. I'm excited because I can add a second opportunity to my resume and do some networking in hopes of expanding it. Peep the promo video featuring the designers of this week's show. fashion:district - Fall/Winter 2010 - Teaser from ReadysetDC on Vimeo .

Today I was a trash man. Tomorrow I'll be in a photoshoot. I got accepted for the runway show and I also have another possible opportunity. I'll tell you about it tomorrow when I'm not dead tired. Here's a video of the runway event that I got accepted for. To be continued. ReadysetDC // fashion:district from ReadysetDC on Vimeo .

I'm on a roll with this modeling thing. Now that I have a photo shoot on Tuesday that I worked on my own to get, I've been pretty serious about finding other opportunities. It's namely craigslist that keeps me abreast lol. There is a model call in Adams Morgan tomorrow for a show taking place at the end of the month. I'm going to roll by and see what happens. If they like me then I'm in, if not it's onto the next one. My motivation in all of this is to use what I have to legitimately make some money without having to cross or push back my boundaries in order to get it. Unemployment is no joke. I've gotten into a gripe with the unemployment office. I was supposed to receive my benefits August 30 and I have not gotten any check. I do have much to be appreciative about. I have a roof over my head courtesy of Albert and Irish Curry, which by no means has been easy. I am also fed, which is ironic because the very Bible I believe in says if a man doesn't

I'm no relationship expert. I definitely can't claim to even come close but I peeped this video and as hilarious as it is it sparked a few things in my mind. Now that you've seen it and probably laughed your tail off, here are my thoughts. I am convinced that the conversations surrounding the topic that "there are no good black men" coupled with the subsequent media coverage from news, books, and magazines is really an agenda to silence and drown out the positive ways that hard working, morally driven black men actually contribute. I really think that the media plays on this idea of black men being no good. Do any of you remember the ABC special about how 42% of black women are not married? I believe that Oprah also did a special on a similar topic. I know these are only a few examples but why is it that this topic persists in the media. C'mon 42% of all black women. I promise you there were millions of black women that were not asked to participate in that

I just leaked this info on twitter but I've got to share the news with my all my people at the Black Tie Lounge. Pretty soon you will be seeing my face all over DC because I've been chosen as a model for a campaign that I'm not even sure if I can talk about. The shoot is next week, on my birthday actually, so I'll see how this goes. I'm excited and glad to add something to my resume outside of the work I did with a number of initiatives for Virginia Tech . Times have been rough so at the end of the day, I've got to get paid doing something. Here goes everything!

Guess what family? I will be performing at the Dream Talent Show out in Woodbridge, VA on November 6. Here's the story of how that happened. Since I've become a bit more serious about my singing ability, I'm always looking on craigslist for opportunities. I found one stating that there were auditions to participate in a talent show to win $500 and 2 hours of studio time with A2G Music Studios. I actually worked with the owner on a few tracks. Well, I went out to audition and was a little apprehensive because all I saw were elementary and middle school kids competing. I'm thinking to myself, I do not want to compete against a kid. I just think that is unfair for the judges. Adults have had more time to mold their talent. I got the go head from the staff and they encouraged me to audition anyway. I chose to perform Everybody Knows by John Legend since I've been practicing it with my vocal coach. The audition went well and I was given a chance to compete in the sho

October is here and Libras rule! Shout out to my friends Brittany Ralph, Brittany Wiggins soon to be Hunt, Troy Lily aka the Urban Intellectual , Michael McElrath, Shannon Newsome soon to be Cozart, Mj Jones, Gianne Harper, GRANDMA,Brandon Pendleton, Tasha Howard, and ... right now these are all the people I can think of that are celebrating birthdays in October. Yeah we run this. The 19th is right around the corner and all I really want for my birthday is studio time. I need to catch you all up on: my work with the DC Humanities Council; a job opportunity that I'm apprehensive about but have no other choice but to take for the moment; competing in talent show early next month; and much more. Two things just happened in the past 20 minutes. I got another freelance client and tomorrow I'll be participating in my first model call. Guess I'm shaving the beard and hitting the push ups once I get off here. I'll let you know how things go.