Black Tie Lounge

Some clown stole my car the day before Christmas Eve. I was an hour and a half away from where I live but luckily I had family in the area where I got stranded. I'm so pissed off that all I can do is laugh. I'm laughing out of shock, embarassment, and just overall stupor as to why someone would go to such a length to do that. It's crazy fam. I couldn't get my mind off of it for most of the day except when I took an extended nap hoping to just wake up Christmas morning. Now it's early Christmas morning and the only reason I'm up is because my family got the sudden urge to clean everything and paint walls. I got suckered into painting a wall to do something to help out. When I realized it was after 11:30 pm I cut that project short. Here I am trying to escape all the reasons why 2010 sucked for me. Instead of cry about it in my blog, considering I'm still pissed as hell about the car and probably will be at the mention of it, I'm going to divert my ...

I'm not sure if I'm ready to go in on this but by watching highlights of President Obama signing the bill to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell makes my opinion all the more timely. I actually have two points that I want to make but I'll start there. As I express my opinion I also invite conversation and other opinions so please comment. As a heterosexual male that has never been in the military, for obvious reasons, I never really understood the complexity of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Serving in the military is your job and with any job there are professional standards. I never really saw how revealing your sexual orientation was that trivial that it would be opposed. I'm not trying to sound ignorant but like any job and the people I work with there are just things that I don't reveal about myself to those I work with. Maybe I'm being too simplistic in my thinking, but I don't see how one's sexual orientation could not fit into one of those things...

Among the things that I cannot stand, and there are plenty, being solicited is the worst. I absolutely hate when people try to sell me stuff. It goes hand in hand with my abhoration of wasting my time, which will turn me livid. So why am I talking about this you ask? Well, with Christmas a few days away I visited the mall and had a particular moment that confirmed how much I hate when people try to sell me stuff and another reminder why I avoid shopping on a certain side of that particular mall. So research has confirmed that you are more likely to comply with an attractive person rather than a less attractive person. This one lotion stand has definitely picked up on this concept because every last one of their reps are probably some of the most gorgeous women in the mall. However for me, you can be bangin' with a body like heaven but depending on how you annoy me there is no going back. So I'm shopping for some family members and I decide to run over to the food court get a...

I've had this blog for about 2 years and have yet to scratch the surface of who I am and what I'm about. So today, in a very random order, I'd like to share information that I don't generally think to share on this blog. When it comes to NFL I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. It's a little odd because I have never been to Pittsburgh, it was just a choice I made and a team that I stuck with. So Sunday night, we played the Jets and other than the times we played Baltimore I was really looking forward to this one. Just my luck my family decides to go to a restaurant during 5 minutes into the second quarter. Luckily we go to one with a TV in range. Most of you know the outcome of that game but 10 minutes left in the final quarter and New York gets the field goal and the score is 20-17 New York. My parents decide it's time to leave since we all rode together. We live about 5 minutes away. My mom decides to go to Target to pick up some Christmas cards. In the words...

I'm not a professor exactly or even close but I did accept an offer to be an Adjunct Communication Faculty at Northern VA Community College. I got a call from the Assistant Dean of the department and by the end of the conversation I got an offer to start teaching in January. This officially ends my perpetual streak of taking on mindless/purposeless jobs just to get by. Praise God it wasn't that much of a wait. I mean yes, I'll be waiting for that paycheck but this is a good start. It's a really good start and I'm excited because one of my goals for 2011 was to take advantage of opportunities to teach. I filled out all my paper work today and picked up a copy of the textbook that I'll be using. I'll bask in the glory of the accomplishment for a few days before I consider how I only have 3 weeks to create a preliminary course schedule. One thing I'll take into account is how much I hate it when instructors lecture the whole hour and change. I'm ...

Last night I allowed two perfectly good tickets to one of the hottest events of the year go to waste. To Justin Young and the team at ReadySetDC, I apologize. I have very unreliable transportation and the very night I wanted to go out it got even more unreliable. I was really looking forward to meeting the team. Either way congrations on the website relaunch. I guess that means all my posts that involve ReadySetDC's past events will be broken links. GREAT! Speaking of website relaunch, Top Rank Vintage launched their website early this morning and I'm excited that I can feature another unique designer on my blog. The brand specializes in authentic military style vintage clothing, which is unique because these pieces date back as far as the 1950's and are shipped in from Europe. That's true vintage ain't it. I met the team in charge of this collection at DC Urban Fashion Week, which was one good thing that happened out of that show. SMH. I had a good conversatio...

ReadySetDC is one of my favorite social networks. Well it's not even a social network but I love the events that they put on. So guess what? I just won tickets to their official relaunch For the Love of DC 2.0. They were giving away tickets for guests that commented on their blog. I guess my comment was the best so I get to party with them tomorrow night @ District. I look forward to it. However, since the wheel popped off my car last Sunday I've been out of luck as far as getting a ride. I'll work something out.

So a week ago I found a tweet, or better yet a retweet, by someone who's Twitter name escapes me at the moment, but the retweet was about PJ Morton's new Mixtape Independently Major which available for a free download on his bandcamp page . I love PJ Morton's music and I love free stuff so I did not hesitate to download it. I have barely sunk my teeth into the album but with this artist you can always expect to get something simple, catchy and unique. The album includes autotune infused remakes of 3rd Degree, I Need Your Love and Don't Ever Leave which are found on previous albums. In my opinion I think that including new versions of those tracks serve as a clever way to make the music sound new. However die hard fans that support his shows it almost appears as a sick joke. I prefer the pure unadulterated PJ Morton sound so I hope he does not include any autotune in his upcoming and future projects. Go on and download the mixtape while supplies last but make sure you s...

I used to wonder why smart people stay in bad relationships. After these past few months, maybe less, I completely understand why. The reason is because that relationship provides them with some benefit that they can't seem to get anywhere else. So it is with people that HATE their jobs with a passion but stay because they have bills to pay. The diplomatic person stays until they find something else, but in these times it takes longer to find something else than one would imagine to expect. So for the past two months I've worked part-time doing tasks that were so out of character and out of purpose that I was changing into a different person. When you are generally a cheerful person and revert to cussing everyone out that upsets you, this is clear indication that something is wrong. This is what happened to me. I said in previous blogs that I knew this relationship would be ending soon. I was not joking. Either I was going to end it myself or circumstance would have brought i...

(Photos used courtesy of the Revamp.com Team) I really want to go to sleep right now, but if I don't do this now it'll take me another three weeks until I am focused to speak on this. Beyond Words Fashion and Art Show was an experience! I say that because as a model you are backstage the whole time waiting for the moment that you walk out. You don't really get to mingle because you have to be in place for whatever your team will need. Most of the time, or atleast in the 4 shows I've done, there has never been any food for the models. Model Lesson # 65: Eat before you arrive. The show went pretty well. I got to model for Andrew Nowell Menswear's 2011 collection, which I really wanted to do since I heard about his line. His collection is right up my alley. When it comes to modeling in shows, very few of the things I've worn have actually been things that I would wear on the regular. It was good to connect with a designer that I can speak positively about th...

Twelve Two Twenty Ten. 12-2-2010 is the day that I found out that I will be a featured model in the Beyond Words Fashion & Art Show . In my last blog I said that I was waiting to hear back from them and that if I was in it, it would be the most expensive show to date. Well I made the cut and they want to work with me. I had been chillin' all week checking my e-mail frequently to see if they responded to me. Now that I got the word I'm on go. The show is next Friday, Dec 10, 2010 at the Washington Design Center in association with the Lollipop Kids Foundation (LPK), a charity that supports children with disabilities. So with that said I'm going to hop on this P90X Ab Ripper and try to get as tone as I possibly can to prepare. Deuces! Be sure to check out the Washington Design Center's blog .

Wow after this post I'll be at post #200. This is call for a celebration doesnt it. Anybody in? I've been waiting all week to carve out some time to tell you about my adventures and now I'm coming short on words. I'll work on being in the mood to write and share. The past two weeks were very crazy for me. I say crazy because I found myself in a place where I lost so much motivation. I have joined the 70% of Americans that hate their jobs. Ask me where I got that number from: I made it up. I'm not cut out for the mindlessness of retail and will be ending what I thought. . . I don't know what I was thinking when I applied. After doing the calculations and seeing that I get $100 for 16 hours of work, not to mention work that any brainless person could do, I realize that this relationship is not worth the time. So moving on to another part time job. I'll say that the boss and I got off on the wrong foot. I mean, how many employees start a new job by telling...