.Amani
Showing posts with label outing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outing. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
A Celebration of Long-Lasting Friendship
Sorry I haven't been updating lately! I've only just started getting out of my depressed hermit status this weekend. I'm kind of not over my negative feelings yet, but just enough to be a bit motivated to start working again. I ended up losing my HDD (hopefully somewhere in my house) and that's pretty much why I haven't went into detail about my 2nd mission trip to Guyana or anything. I also got some new things (like a new phone, which I'm typing from now!) But I'm in no real rush to make a post on it right now.
I just wanted to talk about a recent outing with my best friend, where we celebrated 9 years of friendship! It may seem a bit silly, but when you go through so much like deceiving friends, friends' deaths, and other life situations, it feels really good to recognize the length of a close friendship.
I remember we became friends on the very first day of high school~ we were both in the same Math class during period 2, and that was how we met.
Since freshman year we were inseparable; friends came and gone, drama with birdlike chicks, through my own HS love-drama b.s., and her struggles with her family and her hood in Spanish Harlem. I started dressing lolita and she was the only one who didn't reject me; when she gave birth to her daughter I was there with her. And then even more recently, me finding myself in God, and her following and seeking the same relationship with God, having been baptized a month ago during a conference revival.
I can say I never really lived life up until the point where we started hanging out. So much happened around us but we made it out of everything together. We never fought and broke our friendship. We cussed at each other, told truth to each other, cried with each other, and acted plain retarded together. We were always mistaken for sisters, cousins, and lol lesbians because we were together that much.
God has kept us through 9 years and there's been so much growth between us.. we had to recognize it.
So, we went to Gyukaku for some serious grubbing.. like 125 dollars worth of grub. LOL
A little collage of not even everything we got... that we took as we talked about other issues going on. Miso soup, sweet potato tempura sticks, shrimp dumplings, miso-bbq chicken wings.. sukiyaki bimbimbap, spinach garlic, grilled onion, and what probably ended up being a pound+ of different meats LOL and then a buttload of pina colada-mojitos and caramelized banana splits. .. yeah, it was pretty intense.
Obligatory bathroom selfies
Outfit shot~ F21, Strawberry, Rainbow's.
I would never trade my friendship with her for anything. I've had too many fakes, d*ckriders, "underlings", flaky insecure people, flame starters, you name it. I'm over most people that try to interact with me. One of the only relationships I'll truly care for is my friendship with Muffy.
My general advice on friendship?
Don't base your friendships on location or hobby or fashion. Get deeper than just that, when you know its safe to. Be able to discern people's personalities and habits and determine whether or not they're good for you, or toxic.
Always value someone who tell or receive things like it is, even if it hurts. Who aren't afraid to level you down for long-term benefits, someone who you know aren't up in people's business over trying to sort themselves out and live their life.
Be receptive to their thoughts and concerns, and criticisms. Don't be selfish about your own interests.
Together, be able to pick each other off the ground and support each other.
And be prepared to lift each other up to higher ground. Be prepared to sacrifice.
Most of all, have fun every minute of it.
~
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Resurrection Sunday
Resurrection Sunday I meant to spend the morning in church... unfortunately due to the amount of work I was doing at my job at the time I ended up missing morning service. Instead I decided to dress up and go out with my lolita friends Susan and Mimi to go out to a new tea place I haven't been to before called Bodunk.
The name itself sounds kind of funny and I wonder how they came up with the name xD But the place was very quaint, a bit on the rustic side with the decor and their tea was just. Amazing.
This place was pretty pricey, and the servings were kind of small, but the food had such quality. I think what you're mostly paying for is the tea itself, which is too good. Everything I touched I could tell they were -fresh-, from the fruits to biscuits to the apricot cookies.
Me and Mimi's small sets, I forget the name of it~ but it was basically a nibbler tea.
Susan's set was more savory.
I really loved the lady who worked at this place because she offered to make a mix of tea for me, and did it so nicely. I was stuck between a spicy chai tea and then I think it might have been a cherry tea? She blended it to the perfect fruity chai I ever tasted. Yes.
Us outside the tea house~
Me and Mimi~
Me and my looove Susan~
Then the two of them together. ♥
It was a pretty good time, and we ended up walking a bit around NoHo and then visited Laura and chilled for a bit.
Eyemake shot
Outfit Rundown~
JSK + bow : Angelic Pretty
bag : AP modded replica
Jacket (slightly shown) : offbrand
Cape : Princess Melody
Boots: An*tai*na
♥
Monday, September 3, 2012
Afropunk Festival 2012
A week ago I attended the Afropunk Festival for the first time with my friend Black Witch.
I... did not expect it to be as huge as it was. This weekend event was huge, like, supposedly 20k-people-each-day kind of huge. When I hear 20k, I think of anime conventions and stuff. The walking-traffic was ridiculous, half the time the entrance was nothing but a serious case of bottlenecking-- and when it was organized, it was a line going around the corner and DOWN the side of the park by the BQE. Crazy.
Overall, I don't know what much to say about AP Fest.. music-wise I felt it was good, but the whole vendor area was so disconnected from everything else.. when I mean vendors I mean the small independent businesses selling t-shirts and clothing and jewelry and stuff. Tumblr-famous people like Coco && Breezy and Black Fashion by Javii were stationed near the stages. I honestly didn't really get the use of having vendors when they seemed so separated from the rest of the festival. I feel like it could've been done better.
Crowd-wise, there was barely anyone who caught my eye. Very little good examples of good western punks. It just seemed like a mass of black and white hipsters from Tumblr, afrocentric hipsters, and the like. People were staring me down like no tomorrow... which honestly I'm not surprised from wearing lolita, since obviously a lot of these cats would never really recognize it for the Japanese punk/counter-culture style it is, but even with my wig, I just felt so inadequate. It was pretty disappointing because it wasn't like I felt uncomfortable because of too many people looking awesome around me, it was because most of these people looked lame or generic but felt that they somehow had the nerve to think they were somehow superior.
This basically shows how everyone looked. Just multiply by 2 or 3 times when it came near time for Erykah or Janelle to get on stage in the evening. Yeah.It's whatever. I just wish the crowd was more colorful in terms of style. Made me kind of happy I dressed kind of sloppy in lolita than to the nines.
I felt the music made it worthwhile though, and hanging out with Olivia and seeing old people from High School and whatnot! Totally crazy. Especially with random people like Pharrell and Solange Knowles and people popping up at the festival.
Anyways, onto the picture spam~ Friday outfit:
Met Ryan Hall who host Stereotypes on I Am Other. One of the only regrets of dressing sloppier/wearing my glasses. blarghhh brb blindingmyeyeswithcirclelensforever
Got snapped by Rolling Stone. You can click to find the page here. I really need to stop giving people my government name... and start using my online alias. = A=
My outfit for Saturday--
It was pretty much the first time I've ever really, seriously tried to do a gothic style and was satisfied with it. I borrowed Nancy's dress since it was light and perfect for the summer weather. I loveddd this outfit. It makes me want to get more darker stuff xD
Pharrell backstage, after popping up out of nowhere to introduce Janelle Monae xD
Janelle Monae during her performance. She was like, within arm's length of me in this picture
x 3x I was the happiest chick ever. You don't even know
Near the end when she was all wired. Hair loose, clothes disheveled... she was just going in.
At the end of the weekend I was very glad I went, though I'm honestly not sure if I'd do it again next year. Depends on their lineup and stuff, and I'm most definitely never going by myself.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Mitsuwa Summer Festival 2012
Two weeks ago was that time again~
I look forward to the Mitsuwa summer festival because it's pretty much the only Japanese festival in the area that's not tainted with a bunch of pop-culture and anime crap. Sakura Matsuri's gone now... the NY street festivals are lame... but not Mitsuwa! They have the traditional festival games, taiko drums every hour, Japanese dance, bon-odori at the end of the night.. along with all the glorious food-- okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, curry rice, gyoza, grilled seafood, the list goes on and on. I love it. It's the only thing I consider it the only thing worthy enough to travel to NJ to LOL
Outfit shot!
I shared the yukata I bought for it in my latest July post.. however I rather than wearing it alone, I decided to wear it LAYERED with another one of my yukatas... as weird as it seems, I liked how it came out altogether. Maybe one day I can get the undershirt with the mock-yukata to show through from underneath... luckily it wasn't all that hot that day.
I kind of wish I went all out like when I tested this outfit a month or so ago, but my makeup came out well in other pictures so I'm satisfied nonetheless xD Another reason why I wished I didn't cut my bangs? I would've had a bigger pompadour and my hairstyle would've looked more boss. Oh well!
I met up with Rio in the afternoon, so I missed my Ageha sales ; w; but that's okay. Next year...
We met at Port Authority and got to Mitsuwa around 3pm~
They hiked the price of the games up by another dollar, I was pretty tight. I didn't pay $3 per round to get my yoyo balloons like I usually do :c totally not worth it. We ran into NJ lolis and chatted for a bit, before going to get some grub. Okonomiyaki and yakisobaaaa. I wish I remembered to get pictures..
Rio~
We ate, ate and ate some more. I actually ate till my stomach hurt x__x it was pretty awesome haha. We got a lot of photo requests, and a lot of creepy men as well.. it was pretty annoying. It's one thing to compliment, a completely other thing to ask what area I live and what school I go to, etc. e_e
A picture of us with Yanise and Laura in their own yukata :3
But overall, it was pretty chill! We hung around a bit talking and everything, stayed till late to finally watch the bon-odori dance for the first time. Before I left I bought some creamyaki and the uh.. taiyaki that wasn't fish-shaped (it was named differently, I forgot what it was called xD)
Shot of Rio, myself, and my loli friend Nicole in Port Authority. You could see the tired on our faces xD
One of the creamyaki~
I enjoyed myself as always, and I hope it'll stay just as exciting in the years to come. ♥
Saturday, August 25, 2012
NYC Awkward Black Girl screening~ 8/9/12
Lately I've been using orange-toned matte eyeshadow as a blush and playing around with that look. Too bad it immediately melts into my skin, even if I use primer or a setting spray. I was tempted to buy the Illamasqua blush I've always wanted when I was shopping for my sis's wedding, but I tried wearing it once and it didn't last at all :c I need to play around with setting and finishing products before I get it.
Anyways, not long after Otakon was done, did I go to yet -another- event. Awkward Black Girl screening (#2?)
If you've seen my old post from the beginning of the year, I went to an ABG screening party for my birthday and got to meet Madison Shockley. When news broke about there being a second NYC screening and an afterparty, I knew I had to attend again. I brought my favorite hoe Rio as my +1 and we had a good time.
The line for the screening was ridiculously long, wrapping around the AMC Magic Johnson's 3 (or was it 4?) floors and then down 124th street. It was crazy ridiculous. Luckily I found a friend of mine near the beginning of the line and I hopped on right there e____e the screening room was pretty small too, I can't really imagine how many people were turned away.
Things were running late, as always, by maybe an hour or so, and there was an unwanted guest in the room scattering around which freaked most people out, but once everyone was situated, Issa Rae came out with Pharrell, which was a huge surprise. Issa we all expected-- but Pharrell? Everyone freaked. Seeing him the best I could in person (I was all the way in the back of the room though), I'm pretty sure he found the fountain of youth. And he needs to share some of that with me. There's no way that bro is almost 40.
You can see when they came out to greet us in this video was was uploaded to Pharrell's I Am Other youtube channel:
Soon enough, the screening started. I was honestly hoping that the screening would've been the entire Season 1 and so far of Season 2 but it was only the newest released episode. (You can watch it here.) The last screening they tried to play Season 1 but there were technical derps, and after the lateness and the wait this time I expected them to play all the episodes. But it was alright! It was enjoyable, even though the audio was flooded out by people's reactions.
After the screening there was a quick Q&A session, and I managed to get picked out by Issa, where I basically asked about future projects. She recently started a series called 'Rachetpiece Theatre' on her main youtube channel, where she makes reviews of terribad ratchet songs made by our favorite hoodboogers. Once everything ended there was a quick photo session outside with Issa Rae (by then Pharrell had already bounced, bloo), so me and Rio went ahead and got our photo taken with her.
She said in response, "ya'll making me feel all weird with your model posing and stuff~" Rio wanted to make a joke about us trying to be all 'kawaii niggas and shyt~' (her words, not mine!) but she held back xD
Issa was so nice in person, I'm so glad I finally got the chance to meet her. The actress that played her mother in the series was at the screening too! But I didn't try to get a photo with her. Kind of wish I did now D: Hopefully I'll get a chance to see them all again~
Once we had our picture taken we went across the street to the Aloft Hotel, where the afterparty was being thrown by Madison. It was a pretty nice lounge event, and I'm glad it was limited space compared to last time. The night ended up being very chill and relaxing.
I decided to get myself a drink (completely regretting the food at the movies, what food I could've gotten with that money!), and got this pomegranate margarita which tasted so good. It has the perfect tangy and sweet taste. I wish I was able to get another!
There were some guys playing pool in one of the corners of the lounge, and they taught me and Rio how to play the game. We both had the idea of how the game worked, we just never played it before! So we tag-teamed for a bit until we got the hang of it, and played a game or two by ourselves.
The both of us tuckered out and pretty much ready to go home, I went to greet Madison before we left, and to get a picture with him again.
When Rio was trying to snap a photo, some guy kind of tried to go around her and she made one of our usual derpy faces and me and Madison started cracking up. I was almost in tears. That's how you know it was time for me to go to sleep xD After we said goodnight, me and Rio made our way to the train...
Oily faces like woah. lol ughughugh
Overall, I had a blast. I thank Issa Rae, Madison and the other ABG & I Am Other crew for putting that day together. The screening was actually like a mini-reunion for me... I met people from middle school there, and high school... and friends of friends... it was pretty crazy. The Aloft Hotel was a pretty nice spot for the small afterparty, and I'm definitely going there again one day to feel around a bit more with friends!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Beulah's "Bridging the Gap" Memorial Day Cookout~
So lately I've been sort of 'switching' churches, so to speak. The church I usually went to, was Beulah, and while I love some of the people there, the longer I've stayed the more I became overwhelmed by the size of the congregation, as well as the usual church blahz (like I've ranted before in earlier posts). While there were a couple of people I could go to for mentoring, the general air I've felt with certain groups that I was always around made me uncomfortable and reluctant to reach out for help.
At some point in time I knew that I couldn't just let the b.s. help me lose faith, so I decided that I was going to migrate a bit, to one of the daughter churches. Pastor M and Lady M, I feel that they're one of the sincerest people I've met. They share a long story of love together, and the issues they've overcame so far in their lives motivates me to be a better person. So for the past month I've been going to their church more often. Their congregation is much smaller than big Beulah, but it's also more intimate and to me a more positive environment.
Anyways, this past Sunday was the culmination of Pastor M''s 26th pastoral anniversary and I went to the service after business with my sister at her house. What I love about these culminations and the tribute services are mainly the stories and the words of encouragement that is often shared (there was a tribute service for Lady M last Sunday-- and there was a service for their children on maybe the 2nd Friday of May?) That night was particularly emotional for me because of the things being said and this one elder (he's actually pretty young) breaking down when he spoke about him, telling his story about not having a father in his life and how he wished Horace was his biological father.
I was feeling conflicted in my spirit at the same time too, but the word that was spoken that night really hit home for me, because the question that was brought up was "how is your worship life?" and that was also another subject that I was always sort of struggling with. When it came to altar call I just started crying when I was praying and being prayed for... but then as time went on, I was crying for no reason LOL it was kind of funny but yeah.
After the service ended I spoke to Lady M and I told her how I felt regarding my faith for God and how I felt that my wanting the Holy Ghost was more out of fear than out of real understanding and wanting. The thing I love most about Lady M is that she has this tendency to just know before I could explain everything and it helps me because half the time I feel like I'm rambling with no direction. But she talked to me about it, and she also explained my 'emptiness' feeling and me crying for no reason and stuff. Long story short, nothing that would make sense unless you believe in the Holy Ghost and then mental/emotional barriers and stuff xD
rawr so on Memorial Day, the church people had a picnic/cookout out in Valley Stream state park IN L.I. . It was pretty nice. I spent the first half of the time doing homework for school, the other half just idling around. Two hours or so later I was ready to leave LOL
Some picsss
Lorenzo with his gf Michelle, and his little cousin/nephew/??? Caleb xD
SCOTT, Andre, and Elder Burke trying to act like a G
lolo Lionel posing - w- he's so picky about his photos and stuff, such a girl
me and Diamond
J.R. sippin his orange soda lol
Aviannn
Shakim basking in the sexy. LOL Unlike Lionel he loved these photos - w-
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