Monday Morning Amusement – 2/16/09

Good Monday Morning All,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Valentine’s Day was this past weekend and I’m sure that there was a whole lot of smoochin’ going on. In fact, couples in Mexico City set a world record on Saturday for the world’s largest group kiss. Close to 40,000 people participated in this event which was verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Mentos, Listerine, Scope, Dentyne, Doublement, Tic Tacs and Big Red all should’ve made a killing in profits that day. Anyway, reading about the smooch-a-thon reminded me of an article I read on CNN.com on Friday regarding research on the science of kissing (which is called philematology). The research revealed that women are more likely to insist on kissing before a physical encounter than men – which I don’t think is big news. However, the fact that a kiss can transmit certain information between two people which could affect their feelings toward each other caught my attention. And one theory on the origin of kissing is quite interesting as well. Some believe that it originated as a means for mothers to feed their babies. And from that it evolved into what we do today. Aside from it being a way to show affection, there are also associated health benefits to kissing. According to another online article, it helps prevent plaque build-up on your teeth, it’s good for your heart, builds self-esteem and can help you live longer. That is unless you’re kissing somebody you shouldn’t be. So, pucker up and enjoy the benefits.

Moving on, Kurtis Blow had a song back in the 80’s called “If I Ruled the World” which is one of my favorite old school cuts. He talked about all the things he would do if he became ruler of the world. So I thought it would be fun to explore what I would do or change if I ruled the world - my own little imaginary world called Kimbaland. (My cousin Shawn came up with that a few years back.) My first official act as Her Royal Highness of Kimbaland would be to officially change the workweek to four days. And lunch breaks would be two hours instead of one. Next, I would ban all realities shows (past, present and future) starring Flava Flav and New York from all television networks. Episodes of “Being Bobby Brown” would be available, but only on Pay-Per-View. Also, Black History Month would now be a year-round celebration and we would have a daily presentation of a “Little Known Black History Fact” on the radio. Oh, wait a minute…Tom Joyner already does that. And last but not least, I would move Groundhog’s Day to the shortest day of the year so that Puxatawney Phil would never see his shadow, thus shortening winter forever! There are so many other things I would do as queen of Kimbaland, but I think I better stop now before I get REALLY carried away.

Finally, I have some good news and some bad news. First, the bad news – this will be my last MMA. But don’t feel bad because the good news is that the MMA is now the MMM – as in Monday Morning Mocha (http://mondaymocha.blogspot.com/). It’s a new blog site I created with the help of my friend Tracy Mac. It’s still a work in progress so please bear with me. I will continue to send emails for a few more weeks until I get this subscription thing figured out. Some of the content and features will change regularly so make sure to check back often. And I welcome your feedback and suggestions on how to make it better.

I have no birthdays for this week. Make sure I have your birthday if you want a shout-out – even if you’ve sent it to me before.

Well that’s all for now. Check out the blog site and have a blessed week! I know I will. Hill Harper is coming to Charlotte this weekend with the HBCU Empower Me Tour sponsored by the UNCF. The event is taking place at my church and I’m only taking my “little sister” Angel because I think it’ll be a valuable experience for her. It has nothing to do with the fact that I REALLY like Hill Harper and I wanna try to get a picture with him. You know, it’s all for the kids!!