Bruno Mars, Boyz II Men, and The Breakk

This has been a week, but unlike last week which was a week, this was more “a bit of a week” (to paraphrase Lin-Manuel Miranda when he drops epic and happy making news).

To start, on Tuesday, I went to see Bruno Mars in concert.

Now, there were many things awesome about this. First of all, I had a pretty bomb floor seat. Second, I made friends with the woman (also there alone) sitting behind me. Third, BRUNO MARS who was amazing. Fourth: Surprise! Boyz II Men was the opening act.

Okay, the Boyz II Men thing was huge because when I bought my ticket, Cardi B was supposed to be the opening act, which is fine I guess, except I don’t know nothing ’bout no Cardi B. So I had no idea who was opening for him, and, in fact, when my friend TNT asked me what time I was getting to the concert, I was like, “Meh whenever” because I was sure it was going to be some new musical act that I knew absolutely nothing about.

However when I found out AT THE SHOW that it was Boyz II Men, well…just multiply that GIF up there by about 1000 because that was how I acted when they came out.

So that was exciting, especially because I knew all the songs in their set and could sing along. And the actual best part of the entire set was “One Sweet Day,” which they originally sang with Mariah Carey. Well, guess who wasn’t there? And guess who they asked to sing her part? That’s right. Boyz II Men encouraged me (okay, the entire audience) to sing Mariah’s part LOUDLY and WITH GUSTO.

It was the moment I’ve been waiting for my entire life. (Or at least since Mariah hit the scene in the ’90s.)

Needless to say, I was SO HYPED, even though it wasn’t their full set (#openingactproblems). But yeah, I was suuuuuuper hyped. Like, Bruno Mars could’ve sucked, and it would’ve been fine because BOYZ II MEN.

Anyway, Bruno Mars obviously didn’t suck and was amazing. He is all about getting the audience to dance and party, which we did. The lighting work during the show was effing fantastic, so hats off to whoever did the lighting design because I definitely noticed. He is a total showman and uses the WHOLE stage to great effect. It’s absolutely one of the best concerts I’ve been to (up there with seeing Boyz II Men in the ’90s hahahaha).

So anyway, you know how your girl was feeling by the end of the night.

I may want to get a pinky ring to throw up to the moon is what I’m saying.

Oh, the best part of the show was how diverse the audience was in terms of age, race, gender, everything. There was a guy in the row ahead of me that was probably about my dad’s age that kept saying, “Don’t hurt ’em, Bruno!” so I kept saying, “Yeah, Bruno, don’t hurt us!” And about two rows behind me was an entire family: grandpa, mom, daughter. It was adorable.

And I get to check off an item on my Mission Akilah list.

So after Bruno Mars, the next day I headed to The Breakk for a writing retreat for women interested in TV writing. It was exhilarating and exhausting. There was so much information shared, and there were so many awesome women there.

I also had a mini-existential crisis there. (I know, I know: When am I not having a mini-existential crisis?) But! The good news is that it got resolved. Basically, since I’m not interested in being staffed on a show, I asked Monique Nash (one of the experts) if there was still room for what I wanted to do, and she said yes, but then when I talked to her further, she said it sounded like I might actually be interested in becoming a producer or developer. Then, when Kelci Parker did her talk, I was super interested in what she had to say–and she’s a content developer. (She also mentioned during her talk that she originally wanted to be a writer.) I got a chance to talk to her more one-on-one, and she said that being a professor was basically being a developer, so I’m right where I need to be doing exactly what I need to be doing. I just need to get two manuscripts in my portfolio and polish them so I can see about getting a manager.

So, for now, I want to write and teach and can keep doing both.

After The Breakk was over, on the way home, we (I was with two friends) went to an outlet mall and then stopped for dinner at a noodle place. The next day we went to the Americana and tried on jewelry at Tiffany & Co, went to dinner at a nearby restaurant, went to Sprinkles for cupcakes, and then stayed up past 2 a.m. hanging out.

Then, today, I drove my friend to the airport, did some course prep, researched the ballot for the election for over an hour, and wrote this post.

I AM EXHAUSTED. But I had a blast.

And now it’s back to my regular grind.