The stages of the popcycle

CAREER

FAMILY    

ENTERTAINMENT  

COMMUNITY



 

Who is Drake?

Basically Drake is a new rapper who has completely taken over not just the rap but the entire popular music industry.  Its hard to listen to any radio station without hearing one of his songs. He is like he says "born to entertain"-Drake

Click here for more info on Drake

"Even though she's standing out it looks like she belongs here" -Drake

     Sooner than later, that's when I hoped to meet Drake. My favorite song by Drake is also called Sooner than Later and it is exactly 4 min and 22 sec long. Ironically enough the day I met Drake was April 22 or 4/22.  I'll just go ahead and say it that was the best day of my life.  I guess should be a little embarrassed by this but I'm not . I could easily tell this story in like 10 pages but I'll try to be as concise as possible. 


     Because I arrived about 4hrs early to the show I got front row and boy was it worth it! About 10 min in the show he locked eyes with me, bent down and sang about 30 secs of his song Sooner than Later while looking at me and only at me.  Then about 5 min later he sang another song to me but this time while holding my hand.  Throughout the concert he would talk and flirt with me and the entire time I felt as if I was in a dream.  It was unfathomable to think that out of all the gorgeous girls at the show he singled me out! Before the concert I had always told people that Drake and I had a connection though they thought it was funny I guess its kind of true. Anyways I ended up being invited to his after party and getting this pic with him.

     Then on May 25 I went to another one of his concerts where he actually remembered me.  About halfway through the show he stopped all of sudden and said "hey girl I remember you, how you been" I could have died at that moment.  I then was able to get another picture with him, though I do like my first picture with Drake better.

my altering state of mind in altering environments

boredom

homesickness

happiness

sadness

fear

anger

love

hate

embarrassment

A Haiku in Drake's lyrics?

"babe you wintertime

cold I'm tryin to make the goosebumps

on your inner thighs show" -Drake

Following the Haiku's model a season is either mentioned or described and it follows the syllable count in each line so that that mean that this can be classified as a Haiku? I'll let you be the judge...

"It takes a certain type of [wom]an to teach" -Drake

     To the absolute astonishment of about every person I know I am going to college with the hopes of becoming a teacher. My major is English and my minor is in Secondary Education, yes I really do want to be a high school teacher.  I guess people were surprised with my choice because of my previous plans to move to Alaska and become a bear biologist as well as my intense distaste for children. However...because I coach a swim team 5 days a week I've steadily grown to love children.

     I don't think there is any better feeling than knowing you have taught a child something worthwhile.  Coaching in my opinion is synonymous with teaching.   I've had to learn how to balance making them better athletes, maintaining control through the use of disciplinary action while still making sure the children are always having fun.  My coaching job is not  an easy one and oftentimes  I refer to it as "a real grown person job" "I'm really too young to be feelin this old" -Drake

 Sometimes I wonder if anything will change once I become a teacher.... I guess I'll just have a new batch of kids in that I'll have to teach.

They called me tree

 

     It took me FOREVER to decide on an emblem mainly because I was reluctant to choose a tree knowing that so many of my classmates had done so as well. Finally I gave in and decided to go with a tree  because I could find no other emblem that fit me as perfectly.  Trees are know for their height as am I.  Like trees I am  brittle and inflexible  both literally and figuratively.  I am literally inflexible because of my stiffness which makes me unable to even reach down and touch my toes.  I sometimes think of myself as brittle because I get hurt so easily doing the most common things ie walking down stairs.  I consider myself inflexible also in the sense that I must always have my way on everything. Once I have made up my mind about something I am unwilling to budge no matter what.  Trees, with the exception of their leaves are brown and since I am bi-racial my skin is brown.  Actually back when I did High School swimming my teammates would call me tree because with my long brown body and the all green cap we had to wear, thats exactly what I looked like.

     Lastly I'd like to talk about the biggest and most important part of a tree, its roots. Trees never move they are stuck in one place for their entire lives.  I too like things constant and unchanging in my life and since the age of 3 have never lived outside of Columbia SC.  I have deep roots here in SC and though it sometimes sounds scary I'll probably live here the rest of my life,

"Thank Me Later 10 million copies shipped and gone" -Drake

For awhile before Drake's new album Thank Me Later came out all I knew were the names of the songs, this what came to mind....

1. Fireworks- The month after Sept 11 we went to the fair and a sudden burst of fireworks scared me so much that I thought a bomb had went off. I finally found out what it means when they say your whole life flashes before your eyes because it really did at that moment.
2. Karaoke- Last summer when my mom, sis and I would do karaoke every weekend...fun times!
3. The Resistance- I figured it was a song about the early resistance Drake faced in the music industry
4. Over-This was his single he used to promote the album I had already heard it so I just thought about the song itself
5. Show Me a Good Time-  The two concerts of his that I attended which definitely showed me a good time!
6. Up All Night-I actually thought about the one all nighter I pulled last semester while writing an English paper and how I never want to stay up all night again writing
7. Fancy-it brought to mind one of my guy friends telling me he didn't want to pursue a certain girl because she was "too fancy" for him (high maintenance)
8. Shut it Down-in one of my favorite TV series, 30 Rock ,one of the main  characters will always say shit it down when something disastrous occurs on her TV set
9. Unforgettable-What I hoped I was to Drake
10. Light Up-Drake makes it no secret that he likes to smoke pot so I simply thought it was something about lighting up a joint
11. Cece's Interlude-I was blank on this one
12. Find Your Love- I was contused on this one because it seemed like such a command, Find Your Love or else!
13. Thank Me Now- I was already planning on it hahahahaha

Audience

Drake’s music significantly changed once he became mainstream, one can even say he sold out.  Before he never had an audience to please but now he definitely does.    Drake said so himself that he did not have fun making Thank Me Later because of the pressure involved and his label Young Money wanting him to have good record sales.  Sometimes I wonder that though he writes all his music, is it really him writing all his music.

Audience is such a general term but one we have discussed at great lengths in class.  Every form of entertainment has an audience in mind and therefore all forms of artistic expression are aimed at luring them in.  Especially in mainstream music artists are only concerned with making a profit and therefore that means pleasing their audience.  It’s sad but its true.  Drake is an artist who is constantly in tune with who is audience, young females.  His songs are aimed towards pleasing them as well as his live performance.   Sometimes for artists it is easier to hold the attention of a smaller audience rather than one that it so broad. In actuality if one were to do a breakdown Drake’s record sales I would not be surprised to find that the majority are from females in the 18-24 demographic.  I am Drake’s audience as well as was literally in his audience.   4/22 the day I have talked about already I was in his audience and he did his job luring me in.  He singled me out and talked to me and in this way he succeeded at making me a fan for life.

Other.

“What are you?” is a question that has seemed to reverberate in my ears throughout most of my life.  Since my mother is German and my father is from the deep south of Alabama; my appearance cannot be linked with any particular race.  The yellow-brown hue of my skin and my thick curly hair puzzles most, and for awhile puzzled even me.

            Most of my life I struggled to fit into a world where I now realize I was born to stand out.  I made silly choices concerning friends, thinking the race of them would ultimately define my identity as well.  One of the reason's I have identified so strongly  with Drake is that he too is bi-racial. Like me his mother is white and his father is black. In interviews Drake talks about how hard it was for him to be taken seriously in the rap world because he was half white. Growing up bi-racial I think is especially hard for any child because at some point you must make the decision- do I hang out with the black kids or the white kids. It'd be nice if such a decision didn't have to be made but unfortunately that's not the case. Think about it when you look around at USC don't you usually see cliches of friends separated by race?

What do you think, am I more black or more white???

      I used to sit at home and wish I was either just white or just black because it would make life so much easier.  Kids at school would poke fun at me calling me “other,” since in their opinion I either didn’t act black enough or white enough.   At the time these comments struck me very hard, but it is my mother who I thank for making me a stronger and wiser person.  She taught me that those who can’t see past physical appearances aren’t even worth my time.  I learned that it is your actions and aspirations that ultimately define who you are and what you’ll become.   I now feel lucky to live a life that cannot be tagged with a specific label.  Though ironically I'm about to add some labels to this post...

"Swimming in the [pool] come and find me"-Drake

     Well back to the question, What am I?”  Well for some odd reason even though I no longer a swimmer, it’s the first thing I say. 

  I swam competitively for 10 years, during which time my entire life literally revolved around the sport.  I spent 6 days a week, 3 hours a day in the pool and once or twice a month I was away for the weekends at swim meets.  Balancing being a kid and my rigorous training schedule was not easy but I did it because I enjoyed it first and foremost and also because I was striving to reach a goal.  My goal was to receive a swimming scholarship and compete at Division I school.   Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in my goal because of an injury I sustained my junior year of High School.  I severely hurt my leg doing Track which made it impossible for me to compete at the level I needed to.  Although I didn’t reach my goal of swimming in college I still do not regret a single day that I spent swimming. I met my best friend through swimming and formed other lasting friendships.  I learned time management and discipline from swimming, something I feel cannot be easily taught. Today, though I no longer compete, I am still actively involved in the sport in the form of coaching as well as giving swim lessons.  The swimming world is one that I cannot seem to escape from but then again I wouldn’t want to either.  The years I spent swimming is something I will always be proud of and in describing myself I still always refer to myself as a swimmer.  Once a swimmer, always a swimmer is what I like to say.

Southerm Girl??

What does it mean to be Southern?  Do you have to be born in the South? Or just raised there?  I was not born here but I was definitely raised in South Carolina.  However,  I do not consider myself a "Southern Girl" and nor do I ever want to be seen as such.  The typical southern belle is a conservative pearl wearing girl whose whose lifetime aspiration is to get married and have babies. It saddens me to see that though it is the year 2010 many girls still do not wish to have a career or life of their own.

I don't know if I agree...

 

I'd also like to talk about the south in general.  People always say the southerners are the friendliest people in the world and it is usually referred to as Southern Hospitality.  However I sometimes wonder if this so called Southern Hospitality can better be called Southern Fakery.   People in the south tend to smile in your face and appear to be the kindest most gentlest human beings alive but as soon as you turn your back the nasty comments come flying.

I do say ya'll alot and love sweet tea, so does that make me southern? I hope not!

"The simplistic beauty that all of those southerners have" -Drake

I ♥ you mom

"I'm urgin all daughters to kiss their mothers...you're never too old to kiss and hug her" -Drake

Another similarity between myself and the rapper Drake is our intense love for our mothers. Everyone loves their mom but for some reason I feel like our love for her is a bit stronger.  Both of us never had a strong fatherly presence growing up so maybe this explains why our mothers are so important to us.  Drake's mom and dad split when he was just five so the only time he saw his father was over the summer when he would visit him at his home in Memphis, TN.  My father was in the military so he was gone for long stretches at a time and then when he finally retired he began to work for the government in Kuwait. Other than Christmas and summer break I never saw him. My mom and dad eventually divorced 2 years ago and because my dad still works overseas I still never see him.

"and to my dad even though we were apart I couldn't leave you out, you're forever in my heart " -Drake

Like Drake I love my dad but because of his absence throughout my life,  I was never able to develop the type of connection with him that I have with my mom.

"She has been the most supportive person I have ever had in my life—the only person that loves me unconditionally, really. I know a lot of people love me and I love a lot of people. But to love somebody unconditionally is different."    -Drake

                                                                                                                                                 

"Thanks to my mother for never giving up, you deserve the world now go on and live it up" -Drake

FYI Drake just recently canceled the rest of his sold out European tour to be at home with his ill mother.He probably would have been able to further advance his career had he continued touring but Drake's mother is infinitely more important to him than his career.

INSIGHT

 For awhile my dream was to move to Alaska and study bears.  I know it sounds crazy but that's really what I wanted to do.  I longed to live in the cold, rugged, wilderness of Alaska and become a bear biologist.  At first everyone  thought it was a far fetched dream but when I contacted the swim coach for The University of Alaska Fairbanks and he arranged for an all expense paid trip to Alaska; every one's jaws dropped in shock. So I flew to Alaska....and nothing there was how I imagined it to be. 

  I guess I had and idealized view of Alaska and was thoroughly unprepared to deal the reality of it. I'm not an idiot, I knew it was going be cold but somehow I didn't expect it to be 25 degrees and snowing during the first week of May. The trip itself wasn't bad and I found many aspects of Alaska that I liked which for awhile made it impossible for me to decide whether or not Fairbanks was the place I should go for college.

     However...I had my epiphany one morning while waiting for the girl who was hosting me to get back from swim practice.(NCAA rules only allow you to practice once with the team) I remember sitting on her futon staring out the open window and watching a fresh snowfall coat the cars below.  The breeze made me shudder and the grey sky brought on a a sudden feeling of gloom and depression. At that moment I wanted more than ever to return to SC where it was 85 degrees and sunny.  I knew then I couldn't do it and I instantly texted my mom and told her that this school wasn't for me.  She was relieved because she was never a fan of the idea of me going to school so far from home. I had no second thoughts about my decision and it was probably the biggest insight of my life.  I like the warmth and would hardly ever get to see it in the cold, bleak city of Fairbanks.



view from apt



"My house is not a home" -Drake

  Although I was born in Idar-Oberstein Germany I grew up in Columbia SC on a little street called Hazelwood Road.  I lived on 1832 Hazelwood Road from the age of 3 till 15 and no matter what this will always be the address I think about when I talk of home. It was a very old house built in the early 1960s with outdated everything.Our windows were so old we couldn't open them up and our roof should have been replaced 10 years before I was even born.  It was a simple 3 bedroom 2 bath house that oftentimes felt cramped for my family of 5.  However, around the age of 10 we hired a construction company to turn the garage into a 4th bedroom so that my sister and I would no longer have to share a room.  My description of my childhood home probably doesn't sound all that great but all know is that I loved that house and would give the world to return to it.  When I think of this simple brick house I am filled with fond memories of running around in the sprinklers during the summer and in the fall making my dad mad when we jumped in piles of his freshly raked leaves.Because our house was on a corner lot we had a HUGE background and though I played in it ever day I still feel there are parts of it I left unexplored.

     I didn't just love my house I also loved my neighborhood.  Beside us lived a man whose house was barely visible due to the fact that he left old cars sitting on his lawn and never seemed to cut the grass. My sister and I  would often slyly shovel our dog's poop into his yard and to our amazement he never seemed to notice.  Mrs. Caughman, an old lady and friend of the family lived across the street and form time to time she'd invite us over from time to time for, as cliche as it might sound, milk and cookies. For about 3 years a woman named Michele Davis lived in our neighborhood, she became a close friend of the family and would let us cut through her yard to get to school.

Click to enlarge

     My sister, brother and I would ride our bikes so fast down a huge hill in our neighborhood that we would almost always crash and burn.  On the weekends we'd play on the playground at our elementary school and take pleasure in being able to be far more reckless on the equipment than we could under teacher supervision.

     I got so caught up in my neighborhood I almost forgot to mention my room in my childhood home.  Once I got my own room I turned it into my own little slice of heaven.I decorated it with all the things I loved, at the time mainly Pirates of the Caribbean and Orlando Bloom.

    

     Since 15 we've moved countless times but never once did any of these houses fill like home.  I'd always compare them them to my house on Hazelwood Road and be upset when I noticed differences. Its ironic because out of everywhere I lived this house was to the ugliest and oldest but still my favorite.  This is a case in point example that money cannot buy happiness.I'd have to assume that since his fame Drake had bought several homes but probably not feel like home to him like the house he grew up in in Toronto.

BARBIE

     Whenever I see the image of a barbie or even just hear the word I think of many things some of them pleasant, others not so much. The unpleasant things that come to mind include my own peers here at USC who seem to be striving to attain Barbie status. Barbies though dressed in different outfits look pretty the same, which is how I see the majority of girls at USC. It doesn't make sense that so many girls here try so hard just look like the person standing next to them.  Well I guess I do understand it because as a bi-racial girl I tried for many years to look like everyone else but currently I'm"transitioning from fitting in to standing out" -Drake 

     Barbie also obviously reminds me of my childhood and I still have vivid memories of cutting her hair and dressing her up up in wacky outfits. Though I had fun playing with her, Barbie contributed greatly to the identity crisis I experienced growing up. Because the blond haired blue eyed doll that served as the definition as beauty contrasted sharply with my thick curly brown hair and brown skin., I felt self conscious about my looks up until I entered High School.
     Oddly enough Barbie also reminds me of Drake.  Drake's label Young Money includes a female rapper named Nicki Minaj who is featured on many of Drake's songs.  She calls herself Barbie and has undergone many plastic surgeries in hopes of looking more like her.  Drake is always rumored to be dating her because of their close relationship and many of the lyrics in his songs that would easily make think they are more than friends."I love Nicki Minaj I told her I admit it, hope one day we get married to say we f#!*in did it" -Drake

A balancing act

   

  The word balancing got me thinking.  People always say that things are best in moderation, meaning we must learn to balance things within our lives. Then I also remembered that my astrological sign as well as Drake's happens to be Libra. The sign of the Libra is coincidentally illustrated through the use of the scale.

I find it funny that Libras are described as having a secret desire to live an easy uncomplicated life because for me nothing could be more true.  I always say I am a person who strives to make everything in life convenient. I work tirelessly to balance things in my life so that everything runs as close to perfect as possible.  For example recently I spent hours upon hours on my schedule for the spring semester so that my classes would all be in same general vicinity and back to back, I wanted my semester to be easy and uncomplicated.  Many call me lazy but I like to look at it like this: why exhaust more effort than need be?

I'm not one to follow my zodiac sign but I did find it eerie that my horoscope for today was dead on. People always say that horoscopes are written in such a manner that no matter what any sign could fit any person's life at any given time. The assumption is that they say general and ubiquitous things like; today you will encounter a problem....hahahaha  However I read the horoscopes for the other 11 signs and none of them came close to fitting me as perfectly as my own sign did. The Libra's horoscope for today reads:

"Even if you don’t have secrets, when you keep your thoughts to yourself it can seem like you are hiding something. Further discussions about your future are due to take place. Tighten the purse strings, it’s time to consolidate. "

Just today my family not so jokingly accused me of having a secret life  because I don't talk to them as much as I used to. I guess in the future I do need to "consolidate" with my family more.

      The two things I must balance on a daily basis are school and my own happiness while Drake must balance fame and normalcy. "Fame is like a drug I've taken too much of" -Drake

And just like real drugs it is so easy to get hooked on an impossible to quit, which is why Drake fears fame so much. Its a recurring theme/fear in his songs is that he will get caught up in the superficial life and lose sight of humble roots. He fears mostly that he will never find a mate that will love him for who he is rather than just Drake, the record breaking rapper, we hear blasting on the radio.

"Bein part of this life I feel like I'm bound to end up with somebody that's been with everybody" -Drake

"I fall in love with girls caught up in superficial glamour" -Drake

When I say I must balance school and being happy I basically mean that school for the most part is the sole source of any unhappiness.  I want to do well and  get good grades but at the same time I still want to have a social life and not spend eternity studying and writing papers.

"I just wanna be successful" - Drake and Trey Songz

Drake wanted to be a hip hop star and in his song Successful he defines success as having cars, clothes, money and hoes.  I too aspire to be successful except I define success as simply attaining happiness.  Happiness and success are inextricably linked and it is impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other.  In today’s society everyone wants a good job that will allow them to live in a nice house and drive a nice car. Why? Because for most people it is these material possessions that they believe will make them happy.  To an extent I’m also part of this materialistic society, however I do recognize the fact that money alone cannot buy happiness. Though it can’t buy happiness it DEFINITELY helps.  Think about it: are homeless people or families on welfare ever depicted as being especially happy? The answer is obviously no.  The source of their unhappiness probably stems from their inability to live comfortably.  However it is important to note that the standards involved in living comfortably have significantly changed over the years.  Once upon a time a person was thought to be living comfortably if he or she just had their basic needs met.  But then as time progressed there become new tools to separate the haves from the have nots.  Advertisers began to make it their mission to make you believe you needed a certain something in order to feel happy and fulfilled.  In turn those who couldn’t afford the newest ipod or flat screen TV then felt as if something was missing from their lives.   The truth of the matter is more often than not nothing is missing in these people lives.  People are just made to think something is lacking and then despairingly strive to attain material objects because they think it’s the key to their happiness. Life’s a balancing act between what u want, what you think you want and what you actually need.

I firmly believe that if a person is healthy and has their basic needs met they should feel a certain degree of happiness.  However, sadly society is constantly telling a person whether it is through commercials or billboards that they need the latest in everything  if they want to be happy.   I’d like to again bring up the idea of being successful and how its currently defined. Let me give an example of a  cardiac surgeon making 250,000 dollars a year living in a 400,00 dollar house in the suburbs and a swim coach that barely makes 20,000 and rents a 3 bedroom apartment. I think most people would say without hesitation that the surgeon is a far more successful individual then the swim coach. However I conveniently left out that the surgeon is battling prostate cancer, has a wife who cheats on him and although he fervently wanted to has no children because they were unable to conceive.   He was never passionate about being a surgeon and only pursued such a career to follow in the family’s footsteps.  His real love was for teaching but knew his family would forever condemn him had he chose such a career. The swim coach on the other hand is healthy, happily married and has 2 children whom he adores.  The swim coach chose his salary in an effort to make his program affordable to more families.  Swimming is known as being an expensive sport that is primarily made up of upper middle class whites. The entire family is actively involved in the sport and hopes that in time money will no longer deter people away from the sport.  I’d also like to mention that these examples are not fictional, I know both the surgeon and swim coach.   Who now would you consider successful? This example shows that money should never be the sole indicator of success. “Money just changed everything I wonder how life without it would go…”   -Drake

Long is pretty short

My last name is Long, not long in the sense that it has a lot of letters but rather that the word long itself is my last name. Its funny that long, which implies great length, is in actuality a word that is quite short in length.

Because I am super tall I don't think there is another word that would fit me quite as well unless maybe if my last name was tall. I remember when I was in the 6th grade my teacher used to poke fun of me and call me Natasha Short and interestingly enough it was the first time I realized that my last name Long fit me quite well.

 My looooong self

Because there are 39 definitions of the word long from Dictionary.com I'll just choose a couple that eerily relate directly to me.

long

–adjective

1.
having considerable linear extent in space: a long distance; a long handle.
(I have already spoken about this definition in relation to my long body)
2.
forward-looking or considering all aspects; broad: to take a long view of life.
(I tend to be always looking to the future, I am a person that rarely just lives in the moment)
3. experienced as passing slowly, because of the difficulty, tedium, or unpleasantness involved: long years of study.
(long years of study-this is exactly how I feel about my seemingly never ending college experience)

I've always had a love-hate relationship with definition 1, my height.  Growing up I was either admired for my height or poked fun at, though I definitely feel the latter happened more frequently. People would call me names like giant or tree and I can't even begin to count the number of times people asked me if I played basketball. I always wanted to say yes I'm tall and no I do not play basketball; you're short does that mean you play mini golf.

Because I'm tall I feel it is impossible to blend in, and sometimes blending in would be nice.  I'm not a person that likes to be the center of attention so when I'm walking through stores and people are staring at me I feel extremely uncomfortable.  HOWEVER...sometimes standing out is a pretty nice thing.  At the Drake concert being tall definitely worked to my advantage.  I don't like to think I was only noticed because of my height but I'm not gonna lie I know it contributed to the reason I drew his attention.