WHO IS LAKEIYA?

As some of you may know, because I talk about her so much, I have an awesome co-worker named Lakeiya. She is my favorite co-worker to talk to about politics, people, racism, and general complaints with. She is my favorite co-worker to walk with to meet Monica for lunch. She is hilarious and adorable. Sometimes she even leaves me comments. She brought me my first taste of Americone Dream. At the end of the summer, she will be leaving me to go to Georgetown Law. What a jerk. Anyway, she wanted to participate in the interviewing that was going on around the blogosphere and she didn’t have a blog. Because I love her so much I agreed not only to interview her, but also to put her answers on my blog. As you read them I think you will realize why I adore her so much. Cause she is freakin awesome. So, without furtner ado, I give you five questions from me, to Lakeiya.

1. You have a wonderful youthful energy that radiates from your person. Even when upset, you swing your arms around and smile as you throw tantrums. What makes you so gosh darned jolly and adorable?
The thing is, I have a pretty low tolerance for pain, both emotional and physical. I just can't bring myself to be unhappy for long periods of time. I think that's why I get so frustrated and indignant sometimes; I need all the emotions to come to the surface and just be able to get them out so I can be done with them. The weird thing is that I spent a lot of time as a kid unhappy. I didn't really have an unhappy childhood but for some reason, I just wasn't happy. I used to believe that no one in life could be truly happy; you just had good moments, and the memories of the good moments sustained you through the long and unpleasant unhappy times. But I've earned that being unhappy is tiring and draining and that I don't particularly care for it. I've found that, for me, it's easier to be happy. I'm naturally sort of easy going and strange and optimistic. So put together my low threshold for pain and my refusal to expend the energy to be anything other than what I am and you get someone who skips down the hall at work and performs mini dance routines in the middle of the office when she thinks no one is looking. ::shrugs::

2. What, other than me, will you miss about Jobs For Youth when you leave. I realize this may be a really hard question as I have taken away the greatest thing about working at this place (me in case you forgot) for an answer.
While I'll definitely, definitely miss my coworkers, I think what I'll miss most is the place I've kind of made for myself here. I feel like I've sort of found my place here and it took be a while to do that. I've learned what I'm good at and how I can contribute and I like that. I like being helpful and being good at what I'm good at. I think I'll miss that the most: being able to contribute to a place and feeling like what I do makes a little bit of a difference. I enjoy working w/ my clients (most of the time, anyway) and I love the feeling of being able to help them and knowing that I'm something positive in their lives. I also work in a department that works really well together and I enjoy contributing to a team that creates that type of synergy.

3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be and how would you maintain variety in your diet?
That's a hard question because I'm torn between choosing potatoes or bread. And though the discovery of sourdough bread changed my life, I think I'm going to have to choose potatoes. They're yummy and easy to cook and versatile; you can have them mashed or cut up into strips and made into French fries or however you cut them to make them into hashed browns. And I'm counting sweet potatoes as potatoes also because they have the word potato in their name, so that opens up a whole 'nother world of possibilities: baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries . . . .

4. If you were magically transformed into an animal what animal would you be and where would you want to live?
This is probably completely unoriginal but I've always had a fascination with dolphins. I would want to be a dolphin and live off of the southern coast of Africa. I got to see dolphins swimming near the coast in South Africa and there was something almost magical about it. I also love that they live in groups and that they're highly intelligent. They're seen as friendly and playful but people often underestimated their dangerousness. That friendliness mixed with fierceness appeals to me.

5. If you were to get fired tomorrow would you secretly be smug and happy or would you be out in the open with it.
I'd be secretly smug and happy. I'll admit that I have a bit of a vindictive streak but I always end up feeling guilty about being mean so for my own sake, I try to curb it. Plus, I think there's something to the idea of leaving graciously. Despite some of the craziness, I've had a fairly good experience here and, at this point, I'm content to leave quietly with that thought and leave all the craziness behind.

1. I wanna reach out/ And touch the sky/ I wanna touch it/ But I don’t need to fly. Supernaut, Black Sabbath. Kind of sort of identified by Kiyotoe

2. Love/ Used to be a stranger to me/ Love/ was so disappointing/ I was waiting for a sign/ I was looking for some company/ So I took a walk outside/ MMMM what a lucky day

3. Through the warmest cord of care/ Your love was sent to me/ I’m not sure/ What to do with it/ or where to put it

4. I’ve been living to see you/ Dying to see you but it shouldn’t be like this/ This was unexpected/ What do I do now/ Could we start again please

5. It was a cold and wet December day/ When we touched the ground at JFK/ Snow was melting on the ground/ On the BLS I heard the sound. Angel of Harlem, U2. Identified by Johnny Yen