Good Hair!

I watched "Good Hair" yesterday. Its a documentary narrated by Chris Rock and is basically about black women's obsession in achieving "good hair." He interviewed regular working women and celebrities and their definition of good hair is hair that is straight and long and not NAPPY!!!!! So basically the consensus states that once you are not born with straight hair then you don't have good hair. Now I think that is a bunch of bullshit. From these women saying that, it is safe for me to assume that in order to be accepted in society then your hair must be a certain way??? Seriously, I have no problem with women perming, relaxing or weaving (Hell, I'm guilty of perming), but if the basis of it is to be accepted then something is terribly wrong with how your views. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good but at what cost.

Speaking of cost....a lot of working women spend a minimum of $1000 a month for weaves. WOW!!! That is a lot of money. And that's just for the hair, we haven't included the cost for putting it in. Plus when you finally put in the weave you have to go back to the salon every 2 weeks for wash and treatment to maintain the hair. These are women who make between $50-$75 thousand a year. So let's do a little Math.

Weave $1000
+
Getting hair done $150
+
Treatment $120 (twice a month)
GRAND TOTAL $1270 per month
If she decides to change her weave every month then for one year getting her hair done will cost $15,240.

Spending that kind of money on something so superficial is completely insane. I don't care...I SAID IT!

"....because you are stupid!"

So I had another run-in with a retarded customer. My day is usually filled with them but there are just certain attitudes that really annoy me. This customer wanted to return an item without a receipt. I explained to the customer that our store policy states that if there is no receipt present all I can offer is a store merchandise credit card, which is only valid for purchase. This woman started speaking at the top of her voice because she was not pleased with her option because she is a "valued customer." In my mind I'm thinking, "If she shops here all the time then she does not lose if she gets a merchandise credit." Any who........ I told her, "Miss I would be happy to continue to assist you but I must ask you to lower your voice" She said "Don't you tell me to lower my voice little girl." and continued with her dramatic display. I looked at her laughed, walked away and called my manager to finish with her. In the end she still got a merchandise credit card. About 15 minutes later the same customer comes up to me and says, "this is why you work at Urban Outfitters because you are stupid!" She did piss me off but my fist reaction was to just burst in laughter. She really thought that a comment like that would have made me react with some kind of violence but I gave her what she didn't expect. The look of confusion on her face while I was laughing made that entire moment very priceless.

Is that all Miss??

It amazes me how insanely mean and rude people could be. Working in retail can really mess with someone's psyche. I as a cashier work in a clothing store on SOHO and on weekends it's always busy. So I get the particular customer that was so rude. First of all she was on the phone, that really annoys me because their attention is focused on the phone call and not on the transaction that is being done. I greet the customer politely nonetheless and she pays me no mine by continuing to carry on with her conversation. She then paused for a few seconds to let me know that she wanted to return 2 items but she wanted them done separately. So I do the first return as requested and asked, "Is there anything else Miss?" She looked at me and continued her conversation, so I said again, "Is that all Miss?". She responded by saying "Yes! I told you I have another return, I said it twice already." Meanwhile the item that she wanted to return was still in her possession tucked away in her handbag. Already annoyed, I took a deep breath and said. "May I have the item please?" Well apparently I was disturbing her precious conversation because this stupid b*&@ had the audacity to take a deep sigh of annoyance and proceeds to tell the person on the other end of the line, "Let me call you back because apparently I have to give this GIRL my full attention." It is not what she said but how she said it that really pissed me off. She was talking at me instead of to me. I am not some little high school kid, I'm a grown women. It pisses me off that some people think its right to talk to you however they want because "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!" That saying is utter bulls*@t. It took a lot out of me to keep my composure and finish that transaction without cursing her out for being a complete douche-bag.

My Love :)

So the purpose of my last three blogs about the Steel Pan was to introduce this instrument to my readers who may not have the knowledge. Also, steel pan is the LOVE OF MY LIFE! I am a member of a steel pan orchestra in Brooklyn, NY and I attend rehearsals religiously every weekend. I can safely and pridefully say that steel pan is my one true love; it has never cheated or disrespected me, we never have fights and it always do what I command it. Playing my instrument is a major part of my life. Life without music is non-existent in my opinion. Before I was introduced to this instrument, I would write in my journal to get my feelings out. Now I use the creative way of playing my instrument. What a great way to get out of a rotten mood by playing beautiful music :)

Steel Pan (pt. 3--Making a steel pan)

There are actually three phases to making this unique instrument.

Step 1: involves the selection of the oil drum, the quality and strength of the metal is very important. In this stage, the initial sinking of the drum is done by using a 40-pound sledge hammer and/or a cannon ball to the bottom of the drum. This process called "sinking the drum" can take anywhere from 5-8 hours of constant hammering. This is because the metal must be stretched evenly without tearing or deforming the original shape of the rim of the drum. I must add that this process is the noisiest and most tiresome part of the pan-making process. It is also within this process where the side of the drum or "skirt" is cut to suit the type of steel pan being made.

Step 2: After sinking the drum is then exposed to heat to make the metal stronger more resilient. Originally, pan maker would take their drum down to the beach where they would build a bonfire and burn the drum for a short period of time and then dunk the extremely hot drum into the ocean to cool. This process os known as "tempering"; it makes the metal a lot stronger.

Step 3: is called "tuning." The sunken tempered drum is then marked by pencil or chalk to signify where each note would be placed. The tuner then uses a nail and a hammer to form grooves so that each not is separated. This process is the most important because it isolates each notes' vibration to give every note its distinctive pitch. After the grooving the notes, the tuner then turns the drum over, pounding each grooved part inward making them stand out like bubbles. With the help of a tuned device (for example a key board), the tuner is then able to manipulate the vibration of each raised bubble to the note desired by using a smaller hammer to smoothen each note.

When the tuner is satisfied with the tone of the instrument, it is then dipped in chrome or painted as desired. To see a brief video on how the instrument is made you can click on the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQu5Unc_TNY

Steel Pan (pt. 2)

As I had mention before, steel pan (drum) was invented in the mid 1940's in the Caribbean twin island country of Trinidad and Tobago, just off the coast of Venezuela. This instrument came about completely by accident by Winston "Spree" Simon but the tone that these concave shapes in a drum motivated him to perfection. The end result was the first steel pan ever made, which he named the "ping-pong". This consisted of consisted on an eight note scale in the key of C major (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C). Word of this new and exciting instrument spread quickly. This led to the development of the instrument.

By the 1950's, the name Ellie Mannette became well known as well. The ping-pong later changed from having eight notes to 30 notes and was renamed the "tenor pan". This is thanks to Ellie Mannette, who took Spree's main idea and developed it so that the instrument carried every note on a musical staff and their relative octaves. To understand better, the following is a layout of a tenor pan with labeled notes...

Steel Pan (pt. 1)

Music has always been a passion of mine. I have been singing since I was 4 1/2 years old and I have been a performer for the past 18 years. I stopped singing a long time ago when I started to play an instrument. This instrument is called the Steel Drums, better known as Steel Pan to my native country of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Steel Pan is the only instrument invented in the 20th century and is made of discarded oil drums. Just like most inventions, the steel pan too was created by accident. Around 1942 or 1943, a 12-year-old boy from Laventille (a small town in Trinidad) named Winston "Spree" Simon, loaned his large iron "kettledrum" to a friend. When it was returned, his drum had been beaten concave and had lost the "special" tone Simon liked. He started pounding the under surface of the drum back to its original shape and discovered that the pounding created different pitches or notes. He produced a four-note drum and, by this accident, started the transformation of the steel "drum" from a rhythm instrument into a melodic one.