Brandelyn: Lyrical Contradiction

I feel like I have been away for a while. I haven’t blogged because I have been so busy (in a good way) that I’ve been neglecting my duties. But I have to say that things are going really well. I am settling into the new apartment, I am thoroughly enjoying the freedom of having a vehicle and umerah...God is constantly shining down on me, so I can’t complain. All is well on the writing front, and I will have some things to share with y’all coming up soon, so no worries. All of this time away has not been idol time. So stay tuned.

Now that I am living in Oakland, I have to say that I am quite surprised at the vast differences between living in Berkeley and living in Oakland. For one thing, I have seen a lot less homeless people than I’m used to. There are no more familiar faces asking for money and cussing you out when you don’t give it to them. There are also a surprisingly wide variety of birds in Oakland. I understand that this is due mostly to the central location of Lake Merritt, but in stead of simply having pigeons and Sea gulls; we have ducks, geese, some other weird looking bird with really ugly feet and some other rather large birds that have no qualms with flying extremely close to your head. I’m just saying. Another thing I have noticed is that the people of Oakland are not bad drivers. I used to think that people were just naturally retarded whenever they started driving in Oakland, but the truth is, it’s not their fault. The streets are so bad, filled with vicious pot holes and uneven gravely streets that people have to swerve all over the place and drive unreasonably slow in order to avoid leaving their transmission on the street corner. Another thing I’ve noticed is that things are open quite a bit later in Oakland than in Berkeley. I, naturally being a night owl, no longer find it necessary to get up early and find time to work. Instead, I can head over to my now local coffee shop and work until almost midnight! Touché Oakland, I see you.  I also have two words for those in the know...Merritt Bakery...*drops the mic.

*Picks mic back up after waving hands in the air in praise....Oakland also has what I like to call a middle ground. Berkeley has three areas, really expensive homes, Hood and Cal. Oakland has areas that are hood, extremely expensive and of course, all things in between. I appreciate that. Being someone who is from the streets *shout out to Amarra, Super duper fancy neighborhoods that include gated communities and neighbors meeting in their driveways in the morning to discuss current events, kind of make me nervous. Of course I have never been a fan of falling asleep to the sound of gunshots either. So where I am now, is the perfect middle ground. I love it.

All and all I have to say that I am an advocate for Oakland living. It definitely gets B’s stamp of approval. Well, I have a date with the lake, but I’ll Holla!

Peace Y’all

B