Dlloyd13's Blog

Movie Crazy

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:10:35 +0000

I saw where several people included video clips from YouTube in their blog, so I decided why not. I think I went a little crazy. What do you think of my selection of clips?

This was just a great movie!

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:06:55 +0000

More “Dreamgirls” clips

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:58:44 +0000

My favorite from “Dreamgirls”

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:52:31 +0000

My favorite part in the “Color Purple”

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:13 +0000

Not saying “I love you” when you have the chance

dlloyd13 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:19:07 +0000

It happened when I was a sophomore in high school. My mom dropped me off at our grandparents house like she did every morning and we walked to school. On this particular day, when my mom came to pick me up rather than the two of us, because at the time my sister chose to stay with my grandparents, she honked the horn for me to hurry. Rather than waiting and allowing her to get annoyed and come in to see what was taking me so long, I ran out of the house and to the car. As soon as I shut the door, it dawned on me, I didn’t kiss my grandparents and tell them “I love you.” Then, I thought, I’ll tell them tomorrow. Well…. I never got the tomorrow I was hoping for. I can remember it as if it were yesterday, the phone rang and my mom answered it on the first ring. Because we never received calls in the middle of night, I knew something was wrong. I ran to my mom’s room and I could hear her say, “oh, Doug, no.” That’s when I asked, what? I could hear myself say it over and over again and when my mom finally got off the phone she said, “grandpaw died.” The only thing I could say was “no, mom, no” We immediately got dressed and went over to the house. This was the longest drive of my life. The entire time my mom was driving, I kept thinking, we would arrive at my grandparent’s house and it would not be true, they made a mistake, he would be sitting in that chair he always sat in and he would be just fine. However, that was not the scene we arrived upon. Instead, the paramedics were carting him out of the house on a stretcher, zipped up in a black body bag. I later found out, the paramedics had attempted to resuscitate him for over 15-20 minutes but that he had slipped away peacefully during the night. Apparently, he took his last breath while having a conversation with my grandmother and she knew immediately that he was gone.

It was on that day, I promised myself I would never walk out of the house without telling my loved ones, “I love you.”

A Morning Writing

dlloyd13 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:55:48 +0000

Just last night or was it early this morning, no it was earlier this week. I was thinking about what I was going to write about. It was so clear in my mind at the time and now I can’t remember. Oh yah, one thing I was going to talk about was how happy I am with myself for taking the time to workout using the Wii Active. I don’t know why I don’t find the time in my day to do this all the time. I really love this exercise program. Unlike me, Babe has been very good about using it on a regular basis. Today, I kept my promise to myself to get up and walk to meet Elaine, Beth and Tiffany. I even had an out today, Beth called and asked if I wanted to be picked up because she was driving to the middle school. I declined, I am so proud of myself. I was running a little behind schedule and still made it to the parking lot by 8:30. The walk made me feel great. I even had to jog a little just to get there on time. I am hoping this exercise will do two things: one get me back in the habit of doing some cardio each day, and two provide me with the exercise I need. Perhaps I also have a third somewhat secret desire and that is to loose some weight. I started toward the end of the school year to really monitor my weight and was very conscience about what I was eating and lately that has diminished significantly. For this reason, I have gained three of the twelve pounds I lost. At this point in my life I would like to be loosing weight not gaining it. One thing that I’ve noticed is everyone who told me it is much harder to loose weight as you get older was right. However, if I follow the raw foods eating plan as I should, it would not be a problem. When I was following it appropriately, I was really loosing weight quickly. The only drawback was I wasn’t getting the appropriate exercise that I should have and that was by choice. With everything happening so fast in my life I have not slowed down to exercise. I stay up late at night and get up early in the morning, maybe not early enough. Obviously that has to be the case because, I never have enough time to do what I need to do or could it be something else. Well I guess it could be how I use my time. I don’t always use my time effectively. Rather than watching television and catching up on shows like Run’s House, I need to be reading. What I really need to do is get rid of my television. Without a television all my problems would be solved. Or would they? No… If I didn’t have a television I would just find something else to replace it. As I think about it, I guess it could be replaced with something much worse. Something that would have more of a detrimental affect than lack of sleep. Knowing me and how much I like to shop, I fear my replacement for television would potential turn into becoming an obsessive shopper. That would be much worse or would it? Let me think…. I could be creating a mountain of debt or resting more. I don’t know, if I had loads of debt, I would loose even more sleep. Just as I had identified before, exercise is the key. During stressful times I like to be active, I like to run or walk or do aerobics. So that is what I will do. Rather than loose sleep worrying and watching television I am going to exercise. Now I really understand what Janice was telling me. The gym or some form of physical activity makes so much sense. It is a good way to relieve stress and improve your emotional and physical health.

Janice Harrington’s presentation

dlloyd13 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:03:59 +0000

“I Am”

I am black

I am happy

I am alive

I am vibrant

I am starting a new career

I am frightened

I am blessed

I am ready for the challenge

This poem is an anaphora (deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs) and was created as an activity during Janice Harrington’s presentation. Her presentation was powerful. She shared the importance of reading to facilitate writing. This resonated with me. So much so that I have decided to schedule not only time to write each day but also time to do some pleasure reading. I never take the time to read for pleasure except during the summer. However, I always read professional articles and books. Two nonfiction books that she recommended are: The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard and The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr. I am looking forward to starting with the River of Doubt.

An example of a time in my life when words hurt me

dlloyd13 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:08:31 +0000

It happened when I was applying for colleges to attend while completing my studies at the community college. I went to see an admissions counselor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The gentleman was very kind at the beginning of the meeting. He greeted me in a respectful manner and proceeded to ask me questions. He wanted to find out what program I was interested in enrolling and why I was interested in this field of study. He later asked about the high school I attended and what community college I would be transferring from. Then it happened, he took a look at my transcripts and said, “oh you’ll never make it here with these grades.” “If you have a high C average at the community college your grade point will drop at least one letter grade.” This coming from an admissions counselor, someone who was suppose to be encouraging, and to top it off, a black man. Wasn’t it suppose to be his job to council me on the expectations, explain what it takes to be successful at a four year college and provide the necessary information for me to determine whether I would be willing to take on this challenge. Well he didn’t. Instead, he deflated me. In that moment, I felt as though someone had knocked the wind out of me. Tears welted up in my eyes and a sense of sadness consumed me. It took everything in me to hold back the tears that wanted to flow. I held back all the tears and just listened. I listened the best I could because at this point I don’t remember what else he may have said. I had completely shut down. I was just there. The last thing I remember him saying is, “do you have any other questions?” This was my out so to speak. I said no and got out of his office as fast as I could. Once I was outside of the build that is when my sorrow turned to rage. How dare he, he didn’t know me, didn’t know what I did while attending the community college and he never asked. I attempted to justify my grade point average by explaining that I worked two jobs while attending school just to pay tuition. It wasn’t like my mom had the money to pay for my schooling or understood how important it was to me to attend school full time.
Now as I look back on that time, I should probable thank the guy. I mean, the fear of failing when I finally transferred from the community college is what motivated me to do so well. I realized two things on that day: First, I was going to prove him wrong. I’d show him. My grades would improve, and they did, and I would send him a copy of my transcripts just so he’d know. Secondly, I would not be attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. These decisions helped me find the best undergraduate college in Illinois, Illinois State University. This was the school I attended and received both my Baccalaureate and a Masters degree. At Illinois State University I received the best experience and academic support ever. For this I thank that U of I admissions counselor.

Michael Jackson’s passing

dlloyd13 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:09:02 +0000

This morning I was compelled to write about the death of Michael Jackson. It is astonishing to me that he spent so much money doing everything he could to sustain life and yet at age 50, he has died of a heart attack.
Who would have believed how much he meant to the world. It was amazing to me the number of people who were honoring him. You are probable wondering what evidence I have of this. Well on my way to the university a radio personality on the Steve Harvey Morning Show suggested that all those who wanted to celebrate Michael’s life turn on their headlights. At first, I thought this was corny but did it anyway. And to my amazement, just about every person I passed had their lights on also. It was so moving. Not to mention, the fact that they were playing “Man in the Mirror” on the radio so it was in the background, this made me cry. It was beautiful to see the diversity of people driving around with their lights on to celebrate the life of a pop icon, a black man.