random time has come again...

Let me just say...I am friggin TIRED. I had a 4:30 AM wake-up call, which meant nothing because I didn't go to sleep until well after 1AM. Nu World's two shows in Harrisburg were excellent, though. Turns out they bused more than half of the city's middle school students to one school just to see us perform. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Now that that's out of the way, I just realized that I'm a ninja. B-)
Not literally, but there aren't a lot of things you guys (or anyone else, really) knows about me. I actually prefer it that way, but for the sake of gathering some more readers of my blog, I figured I'd be Facebook cliche and tell you a few random things about myself. I'm 23, so I'll give you 23 facts...and maybe a freebie. Here we go:

1. In elementary school, my mother wanted me to "stand out" from the other uniform wearing children...so she sewed Kinte cloth fabric onto my already custom tailored unis. My family was also the family that always performed during Black History Month, up until my last year of middle school. You can imagine how social I was by then.

2. I'm a lefty, but I taught myself to write with my right hand when I was 10.

3. I completed one semester of 9th grade at a public high school. I finished high school as a home school student.

4. I used to take karate when I was younger. Got my yellow belt ass kicked by a 3rd degree black belt (they were testing ME to move to green! WTF?!), so I quit. But, I took lessons from my uncle afterward.

5. My biggest life goal is to be Chief Mixer/Engineer of my own recording studio. I got a certificate in AudioWorks from The Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts in Maryland, but it's pretty difficult to break into that business when you're a black female. Two strikes. Ouch. But, I'm working toward my goal; I've been doing a few FOH (Front of House) gigs for some local bands.

6. My younger brother and I make beats, and we've combined forces to create the production duo known as BlackMuzik™ . Click the link to check out some of our tracks, and add us if you like. We've even got beats for sale. Yes, I'm whoring myself. But it's all about the music!

7. I got the nickname "Ziggy" in 7th grade. One of my classmates randomly started adding extra sounds to my name, so it stuck.

8. I collect knives and lighters from different countries. My favorite knife I have so far is made of pewter and wood. I only say it's my favorite because I got it while in Malaysia, and had to sneak it through customs to bring it back home with me. Yeah, I'm bad.

9. I also save my movie ticket stubs for the year. My mother and I like to see who went to the movies more in a year. She won in 2007, and I won in 2008 with 32 ticket stubs.

10. My father started teaching me to play drums when I was a year and a half old.

11. For some odd reason, men who have nice calf muscles (pause: drool.) are a turn on. I also love facial hair. I have NO reason why, though; so asking will get you nowhere, lol.

12. I had my first poem published by the International Library of Poetry when I was 14.

13. I love animals. When I was younger, at one point my family housed: a cockatiel, two short haired hamsters, one cockerspaniel, one shih tzu, one gray tabby, a snapper turtle and a few beta fish. Zoo, maybe? We've now whittled down to Gracie, our black/white tabby, and Sheba, our Johnson American Bulldog. I'm convinced they're both humans reincarnated to animal bodies.

14. The shih tzu I mentioned? My first pet ever, given to me as a 1st birthday present. He died when I was 16, he was 15. I cried like a baby for days.

15. I was on the fourth season of HBO's "The Wire"...and I played a 7th grader. And I'm so serious.

16. I talk to myself a lot. No, not multiple personality talking, but I like to talk things out loud, even when people are around. It sometimes gets me into trouble.

17. I don't have a good track record with females, so my female friends are very few.

18. Ever since my little brother passed away in 2000 (and maybe before then), my connection and encounters with the supernatural have become more frequent. I think it's pretty neat.

19. I have the habits of chewing the inside of my jaw and cracking my knuckles.

20. I've had three career goals in my life so far: meteorologist (ages 6-12), professional basketball player (12-16) and engineer (16-present).

21. I participated in a citywide campaign to spread the word about the HIV/AIDS epedemic. *click "spread the word" to see the commercial*. It was pretty weird to see my face plastered on billboards and public transportation for a few months. I was officially creeped out when a friend of mine called me from the men's bathroom of a club and said, "Yo, I'm taking a piss and looking at your face at the same time! I was about to take this shorty home, but I came in here and saw your poster...so I'ma chill." Yikes.

22. I have a sneaker fetish. Not just a "ooooh, these are cute" type fetish, no; I have to be different (thanks to moms mention in #1...hindsight is 20/20)...when it comes to sneakers, or anything I wear really, I hate having something I know other people have. So the sneaks have to be some ridiculous color or pattern for me to even consider copping them. I love Chuck Taylors, and my closet is holding...over 10 pair? Something like that. I also love hoodies, but that's another story.

23. I started getting in trouble a lot when I hit middle school. Not for typical middle school stuff, like cutting, or necking some dude in the basement (lmao@ the story I have about that...not about me though!)...I refused to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with the rest of the school. After a few debates with my homeroom teacher on why the Pledge is a piece of crap, I was sent to the office to have my mother called. You could literally hear the assistant principal's jaw hitting the floor when my mother told her she wasn't coming to the school for that, because "my daughter has her own beliefs, which stem from my household, and she was not raised on saluting the American flag". Ouuuuuch!

*24. My nephew and I were in the same grade together in school. No one believed he was my nephew. Ever.

**25. Throughout my years as a performer, I've gotten the awesome opportunities to open for the O'Jays, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Desmond Tutu, and countless others. I also featured as a drummer with the UniverSoul Circus when they came to Baltimore.

Alright, so I gave you two freebies. Hopefully this gave you guys a little more insight to the random, kind of awesome, enigmatic mind that is me. If not...lol, I don't know what to tell you. Guess you're S.O.L.

(deuces.)

btw: I also like comments...hint, hint.