Resolute!

really want 2011 to be a year of purpose, focus, drive, fun, discovery and major gains. so i guess i'm gonna make one of those listy things. behold:

1. read the bible regularly. mon thru fri at approx. 10am each morning.

2. expand music collection to include more classics, more jazz greats, more rock and roll and more techno/house. and get a new ipod. brother says i need one desperately.

3. go thrifting at least twice a month. make sure to buy a top hat, 80s clothes with tons of sequins and more turquoise jewelry.

4. dye my hair blonde. maybe not all, but some part of it.

5. stop biting my nails. start painting my nails.

6. take my dog Rugby to the dog park (or run him on the treadmill) much more often.

7. call my mother at least once a week. call my brothers and sisters more often as well.

8. go visit my godson and his family in the Bay area at least once.

9. pay off credit card debt.

10. invest in stocks. save at least 5 grand.

11. ignite my new career and start my own business as a business manager.

12. feng shui (and properly decorate) my new apartment.

13. spend more alone time and more time creating (via photography, painting, drawing, poetry, writing, blogging, etc.)

14. drink water everyday.

15. eat fruit and veggies everyday.

16. expel pork, beef, soda and all fast food chains from my diet completely.

17. learn to pop my booty PROPER.

18. dance, dance, dance

19. take at least one yoga class and one dance class.

20. be confident in myself and in my abilities.

21. enjoy my freedom but maintain my balance.

22. volunteer for at least one program or group that's doing something i truly support and believe in

23. continue my studies on myself, other people and how the universe that the Lord set in motion affects us all

24. get more leos, libras, aquarius' and geminis in my life

25. get a tattoo (uh oh)

26. meet (and hug) Prince.

thoughts???

A quick post (and Jesus is in it too!)

sorry I haven't posted anything the last few days. accidentally left my laptop at home, then ended up stranded (not really, just didn't have a ride) in montclair, nj. had a wonderful time though, i love it when i get to see people and places that i haven't seen in years. saw quite a few friends' children that i haven't seen since they were toddlers.

the only fail of the last 2 days is that because i forgot said laptop, it put a damper on doing my first two interviews for the blog. but i'mma do better.

in closing, i'd like to leave you with a poem i wrote in high school that was randomly digged out of a drawer the other day whilst looking for the address of a long lost friend in Africa. The title? Jesus and the Cookie (based on a true story of Asia via 1987). Ahem:

"Mommy, may I have a cookie, please"
"No honey," she said with ease.

I made a face and a frown
Before turning to sit down
I thought and thought in my head
Until my frown turned to a smile instead

"Mommy," I said, "is Jesus everywhere? In my head and in my hair? In Goldilocks' great grizzly bears?"
"Yes he is," she said with care.

"Well," I replied, "if this is true,
Then that means he's in my tummy too
And I don't want to make him blue
Cause Jesus wants a cookie."

check the lyrical profundity!!! hope you feel inspired.

'night kids.

Inspiration for the Jersey Girl #1: Barbra Streisand

lately i've been going through a "musicals" stage; they're all i wanted to watch as soon as i came home to jersey for the holidays. not sure why, perhaps getting out of la for a bit and getting to play in the snow is making me want to sing and dance?? maybe i just want to see happy people doing happy things for 2 1/2 hrs straight?? the reason is still unclear, but i will continue to indulge in the meantime. so you may see quite a few entries on musicals, especially those with fantastic wardrobes.

speaking of which, yesterday i watched "on a clear day you can see forever" starring barbra streisand and yves montand with my very enthusiastic mother (it's one of her faves). i must say, it was crazy, but also marvelous and psychadelic, one of her best. its about a girl in 1970 who doesn't know or have much confidence in herself, even tho she has ESP (and later discovers she has been reincarnated from her past life as a woman in the 1800s. the costumes are AMAZING, you guys. AMAZING. observe.)



this unconventional brooklyn jewish beauty is definately inspiration for jersey girls the world over. so here's to you, barbs.



















<3

My First Series!

"awwww you done it now man..."

i was sitting in the shower this Christmas day thinking on life plans, when i began to contemplate all of those that i know, love and admire, and how inspirational, talented and ambitious the majority of those folks are...

all of them are a smaller part of the overall movement to simply create...to bring the world more of what it needs and less of what it wants: to bring art, artistry, truth, expression, love and the fullness of life back into the lungs of our cities, our parents, our enemies and our friends.

so here's to you, kids...i will be starting in the new year an interview series of artists, singer-songwriters, authors, bakers, actors, models, designers, nerds and entrepreneurs of every age and every shade.

Anticipate.

Christmas has begun...

woke up at about noon (eastern standard time)...


got downstairs and i found A Christmas Story was on the tele (as it should be)...


the tree was lookin' lovely...


and my stepdad bought the family a popcorn maker?? go figure, last time it was a karaoke machine...


Ma Tia doin' her thug thizzle...


paella on the stove, win!


my stepdad in his lair...


spongebob and chef joined us...


and we couldn't get Obama away from the dessert table, negros are so greedy sometimes...


and the bros totally scored...




so far it's been a lovely Christmas day...


Merry Christmas to all!!! And Happy Birthday Jesus!

Remember to love and give during this and every season. God is good, life is rich, and the future is ever so bright.

With much love,
Asia

Touched Down!

Just landed in the Garden State. Had some of Ma Tia's awesome black beans and cornbread with a few homemade walnut cookies for dessert. Decorated the 12 foot fake christmas tree with my two hilarious younger brothers. More to come in the morning.

dreamin' of l o v e...

Steed Lord. Bunny Holiday. Dim Mak. Gangster.

Hello friends. My apologies for my absence, but to make up for it, I'm gonna put up like 300 new blog posts. Well, maybe not that many. More like 4, tops.

I begin with the amazing freakin' night I had last night. For those not in Cali, we have been experiencing torrential rainstorms of the Wizard of Oz persuasion. The thunder was settin' off car alarms, the lightning was cool yet creepy; all the necessary storm elements were here... and have been here for a damn week. Enough already. We get it.

I digress.

Anyways, I decided to brave the stormy weather and meet up with some friends at Electric Karma where we sat on colorful pillows on the floor and sipped wine and mint tea. We debated Black Swan and how cool you weren't in high school. A friend told his sad tale of being hoodwinked by an older woman and how she had him thinking she "had it together" when in fact she's living at home with her 74 year old mother (and driving her mom's Jag too). AND she has bad credit. We laughed, but he was serious. Which made it even funnier. It was classic.

Then come the fireworks. I trudged thru the rain over to Dim Mak Tuesdays @ Cinespace where I circled Hollywood & Ivar for the better part of a half hour before finding parking 3 blocks away (with no umbrella, but I had come this far and my hair's not pressed). Crept inside and it was a wrap! Them Jeans was spinnin', Bunny Holiday was strippin', and Steed Lord was just givin' me life.

My camera is broken (grrr) but thanks to thecobrasnake photos were still taken and the circle of life was allowed to continue.

Good times had by all.

New Venture in the Making

Such anticipation! The new business venture has been established and is under way. TABB (Think A Bit Bigger, specializing in custom bow ties and having our eyes on the exclusive prize) was birthed out of the creative crazy that is Dork Dozier, whom also happens to be the big BF. So, I've officially joined the crazy party as the new business manager, and so far, so exciting.

When given the task of creating the new (and first!) spring/summer 2011 line for TABB, I thought for sure it would be a long and arduous process. Dork designed the whole thing in a day. That's how hype he was about the inspiration ideas that we came up with for the designs.

Though we can't yet reveal what that inspiration is, or what the designs will look like just yet, please believe you all are front and center on the process and all the first looks at everything.

As such, below is our first trip to DTLA to check out what the fabric stores of the fashion district had to offer our vision. And they did not disappoint.











So stay tuned. And excited. And prayerful.

New Kid on the Block

So the last few days I have been babysitting my godneice (sidenote: am I the only one who savors all oppurtunities to bestoy family titles for technically non-family members? I have so many aunties, sisters & cousins, my family circle is about 5x's bigger than it already is. Love it).

Anyways, she's a doll. Seriously. One of those babies who only cries when she needs something, and once it's taken care of, she's straight chillin'. We actually watched part of "This Is It" and I'm proud to say that we now have a new Michael Jackson fan in the making. (This, by the way, is our civic duty. If your kid doesn't know about "Beat It" and "Thriller" by age 6 then you are robbing him or her of future cool points. And that ain't right.)

So I had to share the joy of her company with you all. Perhaps I should consider nannying as a new career path??

=/ Maybe not.

Found!

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!

My keys have been found. And my bf's wallet. At a recording studio in Santa Clarita. How I will retrieve them I know not. But at least I know where they are.

And knowing is half the battle.

I feel like there's a deep message to be learned in this. Something about patience and letting go of control. Might write a haiku about it. Don't worry, you will definately get to read it.

So rejoice! What you lose CAN be found, even after you've lost all hope.

Lost!

Is it not so very frustrating, and turns life upside down, when you lose something that you had no intention of losing? That you rely on daily? Like your keys, for example? Yeah, my keys are gone. And now everything is limited: access to my apartment, I can't drive anywhere. Even my bf's wallet was attached to it on a clip, so now he might have to get a new license and new credit cards. Really??? I'm having a hard time accepting this. I'm still searching. I don't understand. I've retraced my steps over and over again. Nothing. Even got folks praying that I find them. I feel trapped, like life decided to swindle me out of them and hide them under a couch cushion (and yes, I've already checked the cushions) just for laughs. And I can't make them reappear. Resistance is futile.

I'm not in control. And I have to accept it.

Willkommen auf der Reise, was mein ist (Welcome to the Journey that is mine)

And here it is. On September 23, 2010 I did what I had been trying to get the guts to do for over a year: quit my job. Been there for 4 years, made good money, had cool ass bosses, my own office and could bring my dog to work everyday. We wore jeans and chatted about dj's and who was going to Coachella that year. I talked with Warner Bros. regularly and the location dept for Entourage for an entire season. So what was the problem? My time was not my own. That I had to get permission three months in advance to go home for my sister's wedding, or to go see my mom in New Jersey. I was feeling less and less like my life had ANYTHING to do with me, at all. I would sometimes (more often than I would care to admit) look up from my computer (that infernal piece of machinery!) and realize that it was 8pm and I was still not done. And I would be expected back the next day at 9am with a smile. Ready to do it all again. It's taxing. Granted, life is taxing, but shouldn't I at least be taxed by my own life, my own choices, my own mistakes, and not a life that's governed by someone else's rules, someone else's schedule?? So I made some arrangements (that came thru by the grace of God and nothing else, believe you me), put in my resignation, had a party and took my ass home.

So here I am. Staring down the barrel of life's guns, wondering what in the hell I'm gonna get hit in the face with next. It's terrifying, and thrilling, like moments where you actually feel like a bad ass. I'm breathing in a different kind of air now, thinking different thoughts, speaking different words. Even wearing different clothes, not out of some foolish need to keep up with a trend, but as a part of the free-ing process. The me-ing process.

It's up to me now. I can do this. I must do this. I will do this.

Come on, life. Take your best shot.

Lovin,
Asia