I'm a trip! That's good, right?

Around age eleven I found it strange that when kids on TV smarted off, the audience roared with laughter, but when real kids smarted off people called them brats.

As the youngest in my family I found two words totally anathema: baby and brat. They were the highest insults to me. The baby part is ironic, because now my homey be like "Yo baby, wassup" and I be all, "Yeah I'm yo baby, dawg."

Heh! Had you going, didn't I? Don't worry, it's still me with my King's English! Speaking of which, I felt so out of place when I worked in a factory where whites were in the minority. I talked in my anal way while they said stuff like, "Michelle, you a trip." Somebody actually said that to me. I took it as a compliment.

So I delivered food for Traverso's tonight (that's the Italian restaurant in Naperville, plug plug plug) and didn't make much but it went okay. Forty bucks is forty bucks, and more than I had before.

Now for something totally different: here's one of my theories. I think psychologists, counselors and mental health experts put too much emphasis on the art of giving love. They're all about teaching you how to love someone in your relationships. I think they should also talk more about the art of receiving love. That (and here's my theory) is also a skill, one that has to be learned just like giving love, or on a more prosaic level, cooking, riding a bike, etc. Have you ever tried to give someone a meaningful, heartfelt compliment and they just went, "Whatever"? Women especially don't always take compliments well. It's like you're trying to give them a gift, and they shove it away.

Some people believe deep down they're not lovable, so when you try to show them love they go all mental. It doesn't fit their image of themselves. You know what I mean? No, I'm really asking because I lost my train of thought completely: do you know what I mean? If so feel free to leave a comment, since nobody leaves me any damn comments. Oh, did that sound bitter? Good.