Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Instant Gratification in a Digital World
Recently I was recommended by the woman I do research work for, to another woman to do some extra web work. The work was simple, I just needed to to make a few e-files and write a summary or two for the files and I was done. Simple right? Of course it was not to mention I was getting paid 35/hr. So I did 13hrs of work which added up to $455 dollars. It was great!! I finished the work on Wednesday and she said would send the check that same day( she lives in New Mexico).
Its Monday and no check, I had already factored the funds into my budget for this month so I needed it to make rent. I decided to send her a quick email. She replied within minutes,it turned out she had actually sent the check on Friday,but if I needed it right away we could use PayPal. Now me never having used PayPal, I was a bit reluctant. However I was more concerned about rent being paid and cellphone not being turned off, so I opted for PayPal. Mind you while setting up my now defunct PayPal account,I had this feeling that maybe the check would probably come today and I should just be patient,but my worries over rent being paid won out. And besides I'd get my money right away,right?
PayPal account is all set-up,I receive an email notification that I had money in my account. I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get my $455,so I switched from my facebook page to my PayPal account,and there it is my $455. I click on confirm transfer, still so excited that I was getting paid $455 for 13hrs of simple work,that allowed me to be on facebook and on Young Black and Fabulous at the same time, it was done. And then the page reloaded and I noticed it, $441.50 has been transferred into your account, it should be available to you by the 30th of April. WHAT?!!! $441.50, April 30th!!!
Now I'm sure all of you can imagine my surprise and understand my mere disappointment. What had happen here, the purpose of PayPal was to receive money instantly right,and it was free, at least that what the website had said. For those of you that are like me and don't use PayPal, you should know that anytime you are sent money, PayPal takes 2.9% of it. So I'm really upset that they short-changed me $14 and I won't get my money for another two days depending on my bank. Now me not having read the fine print, I call PayPal to ask them where my money is and why its short $14 dollars. And of course they explain to me why I'm short $14 dollars and why its going to take that long to get my money.
I hang up the phone defeated,and wishing I had just waited for the check to come since she had already sent it. I knew when I was setting up that PayPal account that I would probably get it within the next day or so,but our need(ok my greed) for INSTANT GRATIFICATION IN A DIGITAL WORLD got the best of me. What made matters even worse for me was that I got the check in the mail that day!!!
You see folks I'm not mad that I got my money two days later and $14 dollars short, I'm mad because I was consumed with greed. Why was I consumed with greed because, and yes I will blame it on society, this digital world has made everything available at the tip our fingers,thus reducing any kind of patience we may have had,and conned us into to thinking its free,when really folks just like you and I, the digital world needs to make its MONEY as well.
Its Monday and no check, I had already factored the funds into my budget for this month so I needed it to make rent. I decided to send her a quick email. She replied within minutes,it turned out she had actually sent the check on Friday,but if I needed it right away we could use PayPal. Now me never having used PayPal, I was a bit reluctant. However I was more concerned about rent being paid and cellphone not being turned off, so I opted for PayPal. Mind you while setting up my now defunct PayPal account,I had this feeling that maybe the check would probably come today and I should just be patient,but my worries over rent being paid won out. And besides I'd get my money right away,right?
PayPal account is all set-up,I receive an email notification that I had money in my account. I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get my $455,so I switched from my facebook page to my PayPal account,and there it is my $455. I click on confirm transfer, still so excited that I was getting paid $455 for 13hrs of simple work,that allowed me to be on facebook and on Young Black and Fabulous at the same time, it was done. And then the page reloaded and I noticed it, $441.50 has been transferred into your account, it should be available to you by the 30th of April. WHAT?!!! $441.50, April 30th!!!
Now I'm sure all of you can imagine my surprise and understand my mere disappointment. What had happen here, the purpose of PayPal was to receive money instantly right,and it was free, at least that what the website had said. For those of you that are like me and don't use PayPal, you should know that anytime you are sent money, PayPal takes 2.9% of it. So I'm really upset that they short-changed me $14 and I won't get my money for another two days depending on my bank. Now me not having read the fine print, I call PayPal to ask them where my money is and why its short $14 dollars. And of course they explain to me why I'm short $14 dollars and why its going to take that long to get my money.
I hang up the phone defeated,and wishing I had just waited for the check to come since she had already sent it. I knew when I was setting up that PayPal account that I would probably get it within the next day or so,but our need(ok my greed) for INSTANT GRATIFICATION IN A DIGITAL WORLD got the best of me. What made matters even worse for me was that I got the check in the mail that day!!!
You see folks I'm not mad that I got my money two days later and $14 dollars short, I'm mad because I was consumed with greed. Why was I consumed with greed because, and yes I will blame it on society, this digital world has made everything available at the tip our fingers,thus reducing any kind of patience we may have had,and conned us into to thinking its free,when really folks just like you and I, the digital world needs to make its MONEY as well.
Monday, April 26, 2010
"That Black Girl" and Single in the City
So lets just start with me. I'm 29,black, educated, funny(ok sarcastic),cute(I'm mean that is what my parents have told me) and yes you guessed it SINGLE!!
Everyone always talks about single women and living in San Francisco and how they have slim picking. Well if single women in the city have slim picking,than black single women in the city are dang near almost out of luck!!
I've lived in this great city for 10 years and out those 10years I've dated many, many, many men.Let me clarify that dating does not mean having sexual encounters.I've had a great time dating these many,many,many men. They were great and mostly all non-black, let me say this I love all people and every living creature God has created is beautiful,but I have a weakness for beautiful chocolate men. I was never bothered by the fact that most of the men I had dated were not black,that is until I spent a year in Atlanta and my frequent trips to "Chocolate City" (DC), I suppose that it spoiled me.
I moved here at 19 a free spirited black girl,that didn't want to be "that black girl" that attended "that black girl" college and at "that black girl" college met her future husband at "that black boy" college,nor did I want to be in "that black girl" sorority. I didn't want any of this because I had spent 12 years(dating back to my days in etiquette school which was ran by one of "those black girl's" sororities) trying to be so different from it all and in San Francisco I was able to do just that.
I loved the many,many,many men I dated, they weren't all great but each served their purpose for me to learn about myself. I dated a Muslim, a Filipino, a Viking, a German, several Italians,many Latinos, had a run in(kissing session) with a Greek,got unlucky with an Irish, my english corrected by a Brit, a few arguments with a Russian Jew, a rendezvous with a Chinese and I could go on forever,but you see where I'm going with this,right? It was all fun and I enjoyed most of it but then at 23 I decided I wanted to attend college.
Finally after spending several years at city college ruining my 3.5 high school g.p.a. I wasn't sure if I was ready to attend "that black girl" college,so I choose to attend the college next to "that black girl" college. Though it has put me in the hole 35,000 dollars,that one year I did attend that college,more than enough made up for it in life experience and the friendships that were made.
It was then that my love for black men was solidified. It was there that I did indeed meet my IBM(Ideal Black Man) who did in fact graduate from "that black boy" college and he was everything my family would have liked him to be. I suppose had I attended "that black girl" college as planned after high school graduation, things would have turned out differently but I can't say they turned out wrong or bad in any way. After spending a year in Atlanta and few trips to "Chocolate City" one can understand my disappointment upon returning to The City by the Bay. I return to San Francisco after seeing nothing but black people and beautiful black people at that,only to find very few black people and not so beautiful at that(yes I know it sounds a bet sadiddy). I started to think back to when I first moved here and how I didn't notice how very few black people there are in San Francisco. But then maybe it didn't occur to me because my free-spirit and open-mind never saw people as colors but just as people. Somehow living in Atlanta and visiting DC,had made me want to be around people that looked like me, didn't necessarily think like myself but understood where I was coming from.
I wrote this introduction so all of you who decide to check out my blog will understand where I am coming from. I'm the black girl that didn't want to be "that black girl" but somehow ended up becoming "that black girl" and I don't feel bad about it nor am I ashamed of being "that black girl". The issue I had with "that black girl" was that she didn't know who she was outside of being "that black girl" she allowed her family to dictate her life decisions,but what I love about "that black girl" is that she loves who she Is whether some think she is "the whitest black girl".She embraces her blackness with grace, her beauty isn't necessarily her physique like so many would like to think it is,but it's the way she carries herself when other talk down to her, how she speaks when she has something to share,but her true beauty is that she never saw herself as "that black girl" to her she is just a nubian beauty making the best out of everything God has given her and loving her life what it is now,not what it once was.
So when you read my blog entries keep in mind all that has been written about "that black girl" and remember the confusion you may have felt while reading my initial blog entry that is full of contradictions.
Enjoy & Please do come back!!
"That Black Girl"
Everyone always talks about single women and living in San Francisco and how they have slim picking. Well if single women in the city have slim picking,than black single women in the city are dang near almost out of luck!!
I've lived in this great city for 10 years and out those 10years I've dated many, many, many men.Let me clarify that dating does not mean having sexual encounters.I've had a great time dating these many,many,many men. They were great and mostly all non-black, let me say this I love all people and every living creature God has created is beautiful,but I have a weakness for beautiful chocolate men. I was never bothered by the fact that most of the men I had dated were not black,that is until I spent a year in Atlanta and my frequent trips to "Chocolate City" (DC), I suppose that it spoiled me.
I moved here at 19 a free spirited black girl,that didn't want to be "that black girl" that attended "that black girl" college and at "that black girl" college met her future husband at "that black boy" college,nor did I want to be in "that black girl" sorority. I didn't want any of this because I had spent 12 years(dating back to my days in etiquette school which was ran by one of "those black girl's" sororities) trying to be so different from it all and in San Francisco I was able to do just that.
I loved the many,many,many men I dated, they weren't all great but each served their purpose for me to learn about myself. I dated a Muslim, a Filipino, a Viking, a German, several Italians,many Latinos, had a run in(kissing session) with a Greek,got unlucky with an Irish, my english corrected by a Brit, a few arguments with a Russian Jew, a rendezvous with a Chinese and I could go on forever,but you see where I'm going with this,right? It was all fun and I enjoyed most of it but then at 23 I decided I wanted to attend college.
Finally after spending several years at city college ruining my 3.5 high school g.p.a. I wasn't sure if I was ready to attend "that black girl" college,so I choose to attend the college next to "that black girl" college. Though it has put me in the hole 35,000 dollars,that one year I did attend that college,more than enough made up for it in life experience and the friendships that were made.
It was then that my love for black men was solidified. It was there that I did indeed meet my IBM(Ideal Black Man) who did in fact graduate from "that black boy" college and he was everything my family would have liked him to be. I suppose had I attended "that black girl" college as planned after high school graduation, things would have turned out differently but I can't say they turned out wrong or bad in any way. After spending a year in Atlanta and few trips to "Chocolate City" one can understand my disappointment upon returning to The City by the Bay. I return to San Francisco after seeing nothing but black people and beautiful black people at that,only to find very few black people and not so beautiful at that(yes I know it sounds a bet sadiddy). I started to think back to when I first moved here and how I didn't notice how very few black people there are in San Francisco. But then maybe it didn't occur to me because my free-spirit and open-mind never saw people as colors but just as people. Somehow living in Atlanta and visiting DC,had made me want to be around people that looked like me, didn't necessarily think like myself but understood where I was coming from.
I wrote this introduction so all of you who decide to check out my blog will understand where I am coming from. I'm the black girl that didn't want to be "that black girl" but somehow ended up becoming "that black girl" and I don't feel bad about it nor am I ashamed of being "that black girl". The issue I had with "that black girl" was that she didn't know who she was outside of being "that black girl" she allowed her family to dictate her life decisions,but what I love about "that black girl" is that she loves who she Is whether some think she is "the whitest black girl".She embraces her blackness with grace, her beauty isn't necessarily her physique like so many would like to think it is,but it's the way she carries herself when other talk down to her, how she speaks when she has something to share,but her true beauty is that she never saw herself as "that black girl" to her she is just a nubian beauty making the best out of everything God has given her and loving her life what it is now,not what it once was.
So when you read my blog entries keep in mind all that has been written about "that black girl" and remember the confusion you may have felt while reading my initial blog entry that is full of contradictions.
Enjoy & Please do come back!!
"That Black Girl"
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