Best of 2008

+ Month-long trip to Haiti in January on $500 where I spent time learning about my extended family, my people and my history.

+ Made a good amount of money as a stage manager for theater and dance, picking up tricks of the trade, later realizing that it's not really what I enjoy doing, and having the sense to walk away without burning bridges.

+ Signed with a print ad agency and booked an international commercial through said agency.

+ Created a brand and marketing plan for my shop, then watched my sales increase tenfold.

+ Danced with a new Company in which I learned the politics of being in a Company, the meaning of professionalism, and what it will take for me get to the next level in my career.

+ Landed a month-long residency with an opera production with a choreographer I'd worked with before, making contacts, learning Polish and finally taking control of my ego.

+ Came very very close to landing what I thought would have been my dream job and having the sense to understand that chemistry and fit are just as important as talent and training.

+ Acceptance into what would have been my last chance to participate in Ailey's Independent Study Program.

+ Was approached my several photographers for various project, including an auction for a production company run by a woman who will change my world in 2009. The photo was never sold, and is sitting in my room as a reminder and as motivation.

+ Made a promise to see one dance performance a week for the entire fall '08 season and stuck to it, better educating myself about dance overseas and inspiring me to travel abroad in search of my career.

+ Auditioned for a UK-based dance company, for which I made it to the final cut and whose work further solidified my goal of working overseas.

+ Returned to the source of my heartache/headache and finally letting go, then swiftly getting caught up in a disastrous situation with someone and having the sense to realize how disastrous it was.

+ Took a few steps closer to self-employment embarking on an intensive Pilates Certification.

+ Took even more steps with a Dance Education training course that will hopefully supplement my income as a working dancer while insuring me ;)

'Twas an incredible year! Looking back, it feels like it was a year in preparation.
Here's to maintaining momentum in '09!
Cheers!

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random chatter: momentum, callbacks and recalls

Slowly but surely, the tasks on the list you see on your right are being ticked. Many of them are just inches away from my grasp others simply need a block of devoted time that I can foresee sacrificing in the not too distant future. I've never been so close to getting a legitimate full time dance gig with such a beautiful company of dancers and depending on how the planets align themselves in the next few months, I would be confident in setting a goal to be 100% self employed by the year's end, leaving my job to pursue my interest in teaching, train like mad and work on my yoga certification. That's my life in a dream. Beautiful, happy, and coursing at my own pace.

It's funny how the people sit up and notice when it looks like you're approaching your natural momentum. Suddenly, you're magnetic, you're glowing and people see it. You're making moves, following your path, and signs begin revealing themselves, those moves become easier. It's all just over the horizon.

My submissions at UGLY are beginning to pick up. I went in this week to slate me dancing with vacuum to some draggy disco tune... its a commercial for a high end Swiss skincare product. It took all of three minutes and I had so much fun bugging out in for a room full of agents. Ahahah! Anyway, I'm on hold next week to shoot. I hope I land the gig!

My callback for Syren was a disaster, but I'm so clear on what my weaknesses are in terms of my training and talent (picking up ography and movement quality more quickly, partnering) and my mental and emotional state in auditions (dealing with competition, pacing myself). I know what I need to work on. It's a shame I didn't stick the choreo, because I enjoyed the movement... very balletic and delicate, sweeping and musical. I never get to move like that and it was such a treat. Alas... there will be other auditions.

The second callback for Misnomer on Thursday went well. After three hours of choreography, improv, partnering, lifts, and more choreography, my mind and body were spent! In the end, all seven of the dancers who were called back must wait to hear an answer in the next few months. I feel like I shared as much of myself as I was able to in the time I was given and whatever answer the future reveals is not my business until I meet it. I'm optimistic, but I'm being real when I say the competition is stiff. But I don't know what the choreographer is really looking for and I don't know if I'm a match and everything happens for a reason and in any event, my future is still bright.

Then, I spent the night with him... yessir... and it was so lovely. But I'm straight on all that past internal drama. I've no regrets and no sad story to speak of. We enjoyed each other's company. I've known him for two years, a long time to be involved with someone who isn't interested in being involved. I'm for real good on him. It's taken two years to see it, but I'm clear on the relationship that we have and I don't expect to see it through the new year.

Happy Summer Solstice! Here's to another promising six months!

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Unpacking

I was reminiscing about my trip to Haiti and I realized that I hadn't posted about it. I haven't unpacked since I returned in February. I tripped back into my rhythm almost immediately and I just haven't had a moment to breath and digest and unpack it all. I'm slow to process my thoughts, so I'm not sure that I can share all that happened in a way that is honest or compelling.. not that having fresh material for good party conversation was the point (heheh), but I can't help but feel sad when, after telling people what my trip was like, I get the sense that my listener is bored; like people expected more from it.

I don't know what exactly. I guess I sort of expected more from it too. I didn't see all that I wanted to and I saw so much that broke my heart, kept me up at night wondering how and why. It was an intense trip, but I'm happy that I took the opportunity on. I was forced to get over myself and speak my original language. I met my mom's entire family for the first time. I prayed on a mountain top. I ate like a queen. I saw with my own eyes what poverty looks like. I danced. I sang. I taught. I learned. And I want to go back so that I can see and do more for me and for the country. It's such a beautiful beautiful country and it deserves to be recognized as such.

Here are a handful of the 900 or so pictures I took during the month I was in Haiti. Enjoy and Happy Saturday :)




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Now playing: Erykah Badu - Rimshot (Intro)
via FoxyTunes

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100 Facts About Laetiçia

Because it's been months since my last post and catch up posts aren't that much fun, I give you this list of 100 facts I bet you didn't know about me. You can all thank Melanism for inspiring it. Here we go...

1. I have identical birthmarks on my tongue and on my belly.
2. I plan my days around my meals.
3. I'm also very protective of my food.
4. I understand French and Creole, but in conversation, I will only answer you in English.
5. I was born in Brussels and at one point in my life I was fluent in Vlaamsche.
6. I have very little faith in people.
7. I've an general phobia of horror films and their advertisements.
8. My bunions are genetic and are not caused by many years studying ballet.
9. My favorite movie of all time is "The Wiz".
10. I lack sympathy for anorexics but I do feel pity for the morbidly obese.
11. If I had it my way, I would have music playing all the time.
12. After visiting Haiti, I feel even less compassion for beggars and anorexics here in the States.
13. Lists give me a boner.
14. I rely heavily on the zodiac when interacting with people I don't get (which is generally everyone outside my tight little circle). It's a silly habit and it's only accurate about a third of the time, but it gets me through my days, so I continue to let it guide me.
15. I'm good at feigning calm in nerve rattling situations.
16. When I ask for the truth, that's exactly what I mean. I'm a proponent of tough, honest love and I'm truly attracted to people of the same opinion.
17. I have my septum pierced, but I usually keep the ring tucked in, for work, for dance and cause I like keeping secrets.
18. I used to have my left nipple pierced.
19. I’m allergic to Tylenol.
20. My right foot is a half size larger than my left.
21. My younger sister and I were treated like twins until about age 10 when she had a growth spurt.
22. I’m a Cancer-Leo cuspian.
23. I was born nearly two months premature.
24. I collect black hair products.
25. When I’m taking the stairs, I've started counting them in polonaise.
26. I performed naked in an empty pool located in the heart of Hipsterville, Brooklyn every night for the entire month of September in 2006.
27. I own all five studio albums and every single released by *N SYNC.
28. I’m a chronic knuckle popper.
29. There aren’t too many foods that don’t give me the wind.
30. I’ve never had a boyfriend.
31. I cracked one of my buck teeth in half when I was six.
32. I like to chew two pieces of gum at once, on separate sides of my mouth, that way I can't bit my tongue when switching.
33. I was a cheerleader once.
34. It was in a freak cheerleading accident (the fault of a severely incompetent fool!) that I lost the entire nail on my ring finger, ripped clean from its bed, leaving raw high yellow flesh in its absence. Good times.
35. I could listen to Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat" all day, every day.
36. I don't hold liquor well and I hate the taste of alcohol.
37. When I was a fragile adolescent, I did everything in my power to hide my muscular arms. It was Angela Basset who inspired me to get over myself.
38. I'm a cat person. Dogs are okay, but cats get me, you know?
39. Growing up, I suffered from regular episodes of hypnagogic paralysis.
40. When I was very young, my cousins sat on me and made me watch "Poltergeist" and "Puppet Master. It wasn't until sometime in my teen years that I stopped cocooning myself in bed sheets and hiding a flashlight under my pillow.
41. I've never tried drugs.
42. It takes me a long time to get through an entire album. I sort of skim for the standout tracks and listen to them ad nauseam.
43. My current job's title and what I actually do from 10a-6p are pretty much unrelated.
44. My second ear piercings are stretched to 0g.
45. Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" gets me every time.
46. I have a vintage shop.
47. The few friends that I have are very close to me and I love them dearly.
48. I have a fine talent for seeing the worst in people immediately. This little party trick helps me keep my circle of friends very tight.
49. I don't eat beef and pork. Not because of any religious affiliation, I'm simply not a fan of the texture or taste of either.
50. Particularly with music, I'm a compulsive completist. I like to buy all the albums of one artist irregardless of the quality said album. For example, Michael Jackson hasn't created a worthwhile studio album since "Bad", but I purchased the last four albums he's put out since because a collection isn't quite a collection until it's complete.
51. Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. Orchid come in second by a nose hair.
52. I don't put that much value in words. I'm good at deciphering body language and the mess in between the language.
53. My best body part is my back.
54. My younger sister is about a head and a half taller and at least two dress sizes smaller. Bitch.
55. I took my sister and her friend to Roosevelt Field one day with the intent to shoplift. We got caught. Security took us to a back room and called our parents. After meeting our moms (very loud, easily angered large Caribbean women dragged from their hateful jobs all the way in BROOKLYN to find their daughters sitting tearful, speechless and terrified of the wrath coming our way), security felt for us and let us go without punishment.
56. The first record I ever bought with my own money was the self titled album by Deep Forest. I was just discovering the avant-garde and, back then, this totally blew my prepubescent mind.
57. I used to hate my name because no one ever said it right and growing up suburban, it gave me a certain... air that I could never live up to.
58. I'm represented by the same agency that represents this lady and this lady.
59. I don't know how to swim.
60. My voice raises a couple of octaves when I'm on the phone. People say I sound like a little girl, but I do it so as not to reveal my normally salty demeanor.
61. Back when BET was all glitter and mirrors, Aaliyah was totally my style icon.
62. I'm more trusting of women and children then I am of men.
63. I was an editor on my high school's year book. I rejected at least half of the pictures submitted by cheerleaders, guidos, cool kids and jocks (white people), then replaced them with pictures of my friends and random nerds (everyone else).
64. In my opinion, ice cream and hot chocolate are good anytime of the year.
65. I chew my cuticles when I'm hungry.
66. I also have a habit of chewing ice.
67. People have said I have a great smile. I wouldn't say so.
68. Performing and traveling are my two greatest passions. If I could have it my way, I'd be doing both for a living.
69. When you ask me if you look fat, ugly, stupid, etc. in that outfit, I will always say yes.
70. I love my breasts.
71. I also love my hair.
72. I like to sleep on my back or on my tummy with no pillows.
73. Men's colon makes me want to vomit... violently.
74. I have trouble with tone when writing emails.
75. I hate wimpy huggers... you know those people who just drape themselves all over you or the other kind, who sort of circle you with their arms and pat your back. Assholes. Why bother!
74. I want a big family with lots and lots of children.
75. I met my great-grandmother when she was 105 years old. She was totally lucid and energetic. She inspires me to live longer than she did.
76. I wonder if my lack of a decent male prospects has any correlation to the effect I have on lesbians.
77. I don't trust people who talk too much. I think its generally the case that those are the kind of people who don't actually have anything important to say and so they just make it all up.
78. I have a healthy sweet tooth. I could eat an entire jar of honey in one sitting.
79. I don't have a drivers license or a permit and I never learned how to drive.
80. I will look at you in the eye when you're talking to me. I don't trust people who can't do the same.
81. Throughout my childhood, we had five pet cats. My mom named them all Mimi.
82. I'm annoyed by the color "nude".
83. I half snore in my sleep.
84. I was a tomboy growing up.
85. In a rare act of sheer rage, I pushed this white lady on a crowded train because she was being mean to a fellow immigrant. After she told me to "go back to the ghetto", I summoned my voodoo ancestors and put a hex on her miserable little life.
86. I would never get plastic surgery, but I wonder what botulism in my face would actually feel like.
87. I'm pretty good at keeping my anger and misery locked up. People who cry in public or curse outloud in a stalled train sicken me.
88. My performance resume says I'm an amateur sax and harmonica player, but I actually can't play either very well.
89. The last physical CD I purchased was Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"... to complete the collection.
90. My undergraduate education was a complete waste of money.
91. I don't really have a favorite color.
92. I love Yukimi Nagano the way most people love Esthero.
93. During recess in kindergarten, this grown-ass Amazonian third grader fell on me and broke my ankle. My mom would later add this event to a long list entitled "Do You Know How Rich We Would Be If I Wasn't Such A Good Person?"
94. I'm not too big on movies.
95. I can fall asleep anywhere.
96. I'm terrible at kissing asses and stroking egos.
97. It's difficult for me to warm up. I'd rather be too hot than chilly.
98. When I hear parents complain about how bad their children are, I want to tell them that they made their children that way, but saying so would be mean and I'm working on being nicer.
99. I'm fascinated by the story of the Amazon warriors.
100. The gap in my smile is from my mother's side.

And there you have it. 100 things you didn't need to know about me.
Have a happy Wednesday.

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attaining a virtue

When there is something really important I need to remember to get done, I will write it somewhere on my hand--less important tasks end up on a to-do list. I want to get the word "patience" tattooed on my hand.

It's been well over a month since I've last posted and so much has happened since, mostly positive: I stood by my word and opened my online vintage shop; I taught two modern Master classes at the studio; I made a lot of money and was able to save a substantial amount of it; my creative juices have been flowing and I feel more in tuned with the Universal Rhythm than I've ever been!

Chizuru invited me to attend an introductory meeting at her temple this afternoon. She is a Buddhist and a member of Soka Gakkai International (SGI). This was my second visit to the temple. I'm always happy to be around Chizuru--she is such a beautiful and inspiring young woman. She embodies so much of what I want to see in myself. It's her patience is what I admire most. Even when someone is nasty to her or she is sad for what ever reason or anything like this, I've never seen her be short with someone or lose her calm, sweet, patient demeanor. She is such a rare and amazing person. What I love so much about her is that with all her beauty, she still knows how to be silly and human.

I want this sort of balance for myself. This idea (and several hundred others) came to mind while I chanted for about an hour over the course of the afternoon. I really struggle with defeating my own ego long enough to let other ideas in.

***SIDE NOTE: My patience is seriously being tested at this very moment. I'm having a conversation with my mother and as usual she finds some way to turn an innocent request for information into an attack on her where she is the victim and I'm the selfish, ungrateful piece of poo. It's takes everything in me to bite my tongue and let her go on and on, jumping from one random unrelated rant to another. I sincerely wish we were better communicators--that we understood each other. The problem is we never talk and when we do, it seems like we make up for it by tossing our individual resentments and struggles into the mix as well. We're starving for that verbal interaction and so we argue to make up for lost time. This argument will remain unresolved and we will continue to live as if there is no tension, until we have to speak to each other again about something. ***

So patience is what I'm chanting for. There are eight days left in this year and I've decided that it's plenty enough time to change my life. I accepted a 7-day challenge this afternoon. I will chant "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" in the morning and in the evening every day for the next seven days. I will return to SGI to share my experience next weekend. Chizuru has offered to help me by remotely chanting with me the next three days (while the temple is closed for the holiday) and we will meet again on Thursday and Friday at the temple for 7:00 chanting. I believe that I am expected to join, but I'll see how this week goes. I'm always pumped at the beginning of a challenge (Master Cleanse, Yoga Week, jogging schedule, etc.), but my discipline begins to wane soon after. If I become an SGI member before I leave for Haiti, I will continue to chant throughout my journey. I've been connected with an SGI leader who travels to Haiti regularly.

There's so much more to say, but I'm tired now and I would like to go to work in the morning. So good night everyone :)

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B(ack)logging: the weekend & what have you

So, I've been trying to be diligent about posting regularly and keeping this thing updated, but lately, I'm wondering what it's purpose is. I first approached it as a personal diary, but this blog is out for public judgment and I'm a generally private individual who's not interested in becoming less private... but it feels good to express my thoughts and ideas candidly (I've kept a journal of some sort since I was in elementary school)... but I've felt the sting of private thoughts exposed and secrets revealed. To be honest, I am not expressing myself fully in these entries. I would really love to post all the truly awful things that float around in my head. But I have no idea who reads this blog and I feel that it wouldn't really be in the best interest of anyone, especially myself, to rant and rave haphazardly about my life. So, what is the purpose of this blog? I guess to have a record to refer to that won't get lost (I tend to lose my journals regularly).

Onward. Many things to discuss:

It was Phil's birthday on Friday. I didn't call. I didn't go to his gigs. I was bummed, but I had a great weekend avoiding thoughts of him. Lenée was in town belatedly celebrating her berfday at Bembe. I passed through for a about an hour and headed home at around 11p, which was a shame because her peoples were so cool and had it not been for my 8:35 train the next morning, I would have enjoyed their company for a little while longer. There was one girl I really connected with. I can't remember her name, but I'm gonna try to get in touch with her. She lives in Philly and doesn't have a network page, but I added her to my mailing list so she can have an excuse to come back to New York soon :) I really am proud of myself for going out. I let loose without the aid of alcohol and I truly enjoyed myself. I picked up some Dumpling Man on the way up to Penn Station as a reward and promptly polished off 10 of those chicken jawns before my transfer at Jamaica :)

Saturday was a completely perfect day. I finagled my way into a six-hour teaching workshop with Urban Bush Woman that was so unbelievably valuable! I made some great new friends and I feel more prepared to consider an education in Dance Education. I finished all my prep work for Monday CPU in just a few hours and had time for a little online shopping on Etsy (I'm obsessed with this site!).

Sunday was a cold and I tried to do everything. I got some errands done. I finally trimmed my ends, about an inch everywhere. My fro looks much healthier now. I'm planning on putting twists in as soon as this apprenticeship is over and I have the time to work for the money to pay for it (:P). Then I went into the city to take class at DNA -- yoga with Constanza who is beautiful and powerful and has great smile. I recommend her. I then went to see ABT at City Center which was both annoying and inspiring. The first ballet, a Tudor work, had me nodding off through most of it. I haven't been so bored at a show since that LA incident (You don't wanna know... Ugh!). The corps was so unimpressive and the movement so dull, I considered walking out right then. But the next piece seemed much more promising. The Lar Lubavitch work starring Julie Kent was breathtaking. Kent is absolutely electrifying, though the corps, again, was seriously, remarkably boring. I don't get it. You're in the nation's top ballet company. How's about a little umph!? Capped the night off with a double order of Dumpling Man, seven of which were in my belly before my Jamaica transfer. What can I say, those things do something to me.

Now at some point this weekend, Phil called and left a message. I have a habit of forgetting my promises to myself. Sometimes, I can't remember why I need to be disciplined about some things. Like in this instance, I've spent a good part of today playing with the idea of returning his call, seeing him again and justifying it to myself by saying that this will be the absolute very last time that I see that man. And then, then, then I'm done. For sure. But that's what I always say and I always feel like a fool in the end, because it's the affection and the attention that I really crave. I think, I'm not that fond of sex, actually. What I love is the feeling of being wanted and feeling irreplaceable, which is what I feel in the few hours that we're together, but then that fades when we part ways the next afternoon and I don't hear from him for weeks. The whole thing's out of balance. He gets exactly what he wants and I trick myself into thinking that making him happy makes me happy, which is a lie and a nontruth!

I don't want to call him. I want a relationship. I want a boyfriend. I want consistency and effing consideration! And I know deep in my heart that this man is not able to give me what I want and I'm cheating myself by letting him just do whatever the hell he wants with me and my emotions. Bump that mess! I'm done. For reals.

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B(ack)logging: befriending creatives, tightening my circle, losing a legend

I've been away. Inconsiderately neglecting my one and one-half readers, off attempting to live a life worth blogging about. I thought to post separate entries for each of the listed items, but then decided against it after seeing the hour. I have many things to share and if I don't get it all down now, it will fall out of my head.

1) I've been meditating on the idea of finding creative compatibility among the people I know -- liking the people with whom I create and creating with people I like.

My sister and I are polar opposites in just about every respect, but the most distinctive difference between us is in the way we relate to others, our approach to relationships. Jessica is a witty, outgoing, smart, beautiful young woman with exotic, yet friendly features, a carefree attitude, and an wholesome belief that all people have at least some goodness, and so she treats them as such until they show they're figurative asses. She's a typical Libra: magnetic, casual, born to be social. Upon first meeting us, you may immediately notice the stark contrast. I am reserved and slow to initiate or alter the pace, direction, or depth of a relationship on any level -- I am an extreme follower in that respect. I need to have a clear understanding of the association and all possible trajectories as early on as possible, because being unsure makes me uneasy. I'm a “cuspian”, cursed with a double helping of shameful insecurities (bah!): Cancer is severely protective of her soft bits and will crawl into her shell until she feels it's safe to come out; Leo is always questioning, doubting, and it's fear (of rejection, humiliation, exposure) that keeps her away from people she can't easily read, or more accurately, people who read her more quickly. To top that, my looks are unremarkable, generic, vaguely African (Nigerian is the popular assumption these days), resembling a visiting cousin of high school friend many years ago, maybe. I think people find me inaccessible, familiar but not memorable.

Anyway, so I have a hard time with relationships, but I've been thinking about how much more well off I'd be in terms of my career, my love life, my general happiness, if I were better at them. Life is about relationships: collecting them, nurturing and maintaining them, letting them go. My life is about creating. Why aren't I more invested in relationships with people who create and inspire for a living? I live for the connection I have with Jessica. Why don't I have more of something close to that?!

2) I have a coworker who I once admired for his boldness against "cultural authorities", his breadth of knowledge, and, in spite of his obvious greatness, his unwavering humility. I wanted him to be my mentor. I wanted to learn from him and absorb his spirit. But then... but then he found Jesus and lost his damn mind. As it turns out, he's miles away from humble, obscenely arrogant actually, and far from saved. And he's a pathological liar who won't own up to his wrong doings! He condescends and then rants about lack of support from his peers. I have no need for him in my life.

As of this moment, I'm done with that man too.


3) Once, this guy asked me out on MySpace. He brought me to a swank vegan restaurant in the Village and then to SOBs to see Lucky Dube. He was doing all the right things: very gentlemanly, lots of compliments. But, to be honest, he lost me at “hello”. I didn’t forget Lucky Dube though – crazy energy, beautiful music, cool crowd. I fell in love instantly. Just a few days ago, the reggae legend was gunned down in front of two of his seven children. Read here

May his music be testimony to his greatness, may he rest in peace.

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On: blessings, praying for karma & a bronze sculpture that perfectly captures my take on my relation to others

1) My sister came home today... hooray! She's the most beautiful person I know and I feel blessed to have the relationship we have. We inspire each other. We encourage each other. We slap sense into each other and laugh and laugh and enjoy each other's company. I love (♥) that cocoa string bean!

2) My boss told me about an author who once said, if your problems can be solved by throwing money at them, they're not very interesting problems [paraphrase]. Now whether or not that negates the weight or validity of any particular problem in the grand scheme of things is debatable, but I sure feel blessed for my experience of life. I like to think that I'm tough enough to take on my own ego and that the more I war with it -- the more I choose to shut down my negative thoughts, to actually be happy and fulfilled, to be the ruler off my emotions, to make my days worthwhile -- the more certain I am that my problems are hardly that! I asked Chizuru to bring me meditation beads and a prayer book. I need to be more vocal about my gratitude. I'm grateful for the way my mother annoys me. I'm grateful for my period. I'm grateful for my aches after ballet class. I'm grateful for my father's bunions. I'm grateful for my 2 hour commute. I'm grateful for my job and my craft and this life that I don't take enough advantage of! I'm grateful because any one of those things could be taken from me in a blink, but this moment right now is mine.

3) I don't want to be a vengeful person. I think jealousy is an exhaustive waste of an emotion that has never done anyone any good ever in the history of the world. I've often pondered the usefulness of jealousy and I've come to the conclusion that it can only get you shot or stabbed. I get angry with myself when I allow my ego to slip into that pool of self-pity... when I let it point fingers and tear down others. And I've come a long way from the old me who would ask "... but why?!" but I still need to learn to let myself lose a fight, to just let a muthafucka go! I also have to remember that karma is real and it works when it needs to. Balance is important and I need to be worried about maintaining my own, and not about trying to upset someone else's.

4) Back to the topic of throwing money at a problem, I gotta figure out a way to get more of it. I'm launching an aggressive campaign/grand scheme to get a lot of money into my bank accounts, like yesterday. More details soon come...

5) Image of the Week: Misunderstanding a Clown

... but at least he sees me (sigh).

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