10 x 4 = Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!

I know the popular misconception is that everyone who's Latino in Los Angeles comes from Mexico, and so folks should be out in the streets partying hardy. But in my neighborhood, half the people are from El Salvador -- totally different country -- and they could care less about a holiday celebrating a 19th century Mexican battle.

BUT since it's a day for celebration, let's start out the morning with a little "Yes We Can", courtesy of House Music United.



I have no idea what's up with the place-setting video. I didn't make it. But can I just say that records like this are exactly why I like Europeans. No Americans these days are gonna throw an Obama speech over a tech-house beat, and we INVENTED house music! Instead we get will.i.am's folksy version, which is all very touching and inspiring, but when I need to get myself going in the morning, this is SO much better.

Disclaimer: If you hate house music and hate Barack Obama because he's an uppity negro and you think his wife will be blasting "Computer Love" from the White House, sorry! Wrong blog for you!

Yeah, let me push "replay" on that clip. I really need to hear that again. Yes we can! Wake up, that is! I will have you know that I did not go to sleep last night at all. I spent my evening getting caught up tweaking a little something I wrote a couple of months ago and then working on another short story I've been absolutely obsessed with. However, I'm feeling a little wired even though I haven't slept. It must be the sheer emotional adrenaline of what I was writing.

That means it's perfect timing for me to swagger jack this meme from Madame hot-blogger herself, 1969! Get ready, because you're gonna learn a whole bunch about me that you had no idea you ever wanted to know. And if you don't want to know, stop reading now and call it a day, m'kay?

Ten things I really liked when I was a teenager that I don’t much care for now:
1) Baked chicken: Vegetarianism sort of lured me away and soured my relationship with chicken. Gosh, I feel so guilty. I've been cheating with tofu all these years.
2) Horse racing: I think Eight Belles death on Saturday at the Kentucky Derby really put the nail in the coffin. But I used to be crazy for the ponies. I even wanted to be a female jockey at one point.
3) Leftovers: I never ate them when I lived in China and that soured me on them forever. I feel like throwing up if I have to eat them.
4) Blue eyeshadow: I really thought I was fly in that light blue. Gosh, it was an '80s thing.
5) Pancakes and fries eaten at the same time: Too much starch and I like for my clothes to fit.
6) Shorts: I just think they're for kids, not for grown women with two kids of their own.
7) Vanity Fair: The book, not the magazine. I recently tried to reread it and it just irritated me. I kept yelling, "Get to the point!" Waay too long!
8) W Magazine: My mom subscribed and I used to love it. I recently bought the issue with Keira Knightley on the cover. Bored to tears by the wack fashions and the lack of diversity in the models.
9) MTV: Too many Tila Tequila shows and not enough actual music. I'm not feeling it and haven't for a long time.
10) Popular radio stations: Same 10 songs playing over and over again and their morning shows? What in the world are they talking about? Radio has definitely changed for the worse -- or am I just getting old?

Ten things I didn’t like when I was a teenager but I really like them now:
1) Talk radio: I love KNX 1070 out here in LA but I used to fight with my Dad over Chicago's very own, WGN.
2) Walking: Walking is the kiss of death for a teenager but now I'm all for it.
3) Television cop dramas: You would never have caught me watching a Hill Street Blues type show as some teen Now I love Law & Order. (Except I haven't watched TV for two weeks now.)
4) Exercise: We've come a long way from the days of Jane Fonda-type pure aerobics. Thank goodness.
5) Martial arts movies: I've been a Jet Li fan for 15 years now. And Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is still a masterpiece by any definition.
6) Ice cream: Three cheers for Breyer's Triple Chocolate.
7) Diet Coke: I'm with you on this one, 1969. But I'm being lured away by Coke Zero.
8) Art Museums: Now that I know the history and the stories behind the paintings, I like going.
9) Shopping: 80's clothes were kind of ugly and didn't look too good on me. Plus, if we were going shopping, chances are my mom was getting something, not me. Not fun.
10) Myself: Yeah, I wasn't too crazy about myself as a teenager. Thank goodness I outgrew that.

Ten things I've never liked and probably never will:
1) Snobby people: If you have to keep repeating where you got your little JD/MBA from, how "good" your hair is, or who your daddy is, guess what, you've pretty much guaranteed that I'm going to HATE you. I could stop this list right here with this one because I will HATE you, do you hear me, H-A-T-E you.
2) Being Broke: Been there, done that. I'll never be money hungry but being hungry because I have no ducats is not something I care to repeat.
3) Big cars: Bad for the environment and I don't know how to parallel park them.
4) Alcohol: I can't stand the smell of beer. Drunk folks tend to get on my nerves, and drunk drivers deserve the slammer.
5) Drama: Especially the sort where people ask me for advice, don't take it and then come crying when their life gets all jacked up.
6) Mediocrity: Come hard with it or don't come at all. If you did your best, fine. But don't tell me you didn't really try or didn't really care what the end result was.
7) Brian McKnight, Wesley Snipes, Tom Cruise, Justin Timberlake and Rush Limbaugh: They all make me sick. Just go away.
8) Greasy Southern Food: Hello! Vegetables can be made without butter and I don't want to eat fried eggs you made with a jar of drippings.
9) Self help books: I have a total mental block against them.
10) Scary movies: I'm still traumatized by watching "Secret Window" and "The Grudge" with my sister two years ago. I seriously can't deal with scary movies.


Ten things I’ve always really liked and very likely always will:
1) My kids: I love them more than anything on this planet.
2) Depeche Mode: In case you didn't know, they're the best band in the world. They just need to hurry up with the new record. Pretty please with a cherry on top?
3) Writing: Ah yes, the reason I did not go to bed last night and the reason I blog.
4) Dracula: The novel, as in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Mina Harker is one of my alter-egos.
5) Orlando Bloom: Is this the wrong time to talk about my unopened Legolas doll?
6) Shoes: I have a particular "thing" for red high heels and I really want some black stilettos with metal heels.
7) Driving a stick shift: I can be a little bit of a control freak and a stick shift helps with that. I'm good at it too. Alas, my current car is not a stick because my husband can't drive one.
8) Traveling: I will go anywhere you want to go. I really like to travel!
9) Jane Austen: Austen's novels are still so fresh and relevant. They're social commentary and soap opera all wrapped into one.
9) Tea: I will drink pretty much any tea that you offer me, not just my beloved chai. I like it plain or with a little milk in it and two sugar cubes.
10: Thai Food: I'm so spoiled because I live right on the edge of Thai Town and in delivery distance of one of the best Thai restaurants in LA.

Whew, I'm tagging some of you...later. I think I need to recover from this post.

Chai and Concerts in the New Year

Around noon today I'm going to roll over to Starbucks and buy a grande soy chai with a shot of sugar free vanilla. And then I'm going to drink it very slowly.

I know you're probably like, "Why the heck should I care if you go to Starbucks and get a chai at noon? What's the big deal about that?"

No, I'm not trying to do my patriotic duty by trying to help Starbuck's bottom line. Despite the recession, (that may or may not officially be happening depending on who you're talking to) I have a firm belief that Starbucks is still making plenty of moolah. They don't need my sympathy. So the real reason I'm so psyched about this chai in the afternoon scenario is that I'm celebrating the fact that today is Baha'i New Year (Also known as Naw Ruz) and that means it's the end of the Baha'i Fast! Yee-haw!

Yes, for the past 19 days, I haven't been eating or drinking anything between sunrise and sunset. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No food, no water and no chai all day long. I meant to blog about fasting while I was doing it and I found I just couldn't. Every post started out with, "I'm really hungry. I'd like to eat ____ (insert ANY food) right now." And then I'd start listing out all the stuff I wanted to eat. Really, the best way for me to get through the days was to not think about it at all and to keep myself busy doing/writing about other things.

As the days went by though, it did get easier. Your stomach shrinks a lot so even though you think you're going to eat a ton of food in the morning before sunrise or in the evening after sunset, you quickly realize that you're stuffing yourself and you'll feel like you overate. Plus, it becomes apparent that the Baha'i Fast is not really about food. It's ultimately about sacrifice and spiritual development.

Our society is one where instant gratification is the norm. We can revert to that sort of childish behavior where we think we should have what we want when we want it, no matter what. And then we wonder why we have such huge problems with addictions of all kinds: food, alcohol, drugs, shopping, gossip, political bickering, and on and on. So the Fast (like Ramadan, Lent and Yom Kippur) is a time to step back from all the selfishness we surround ourselves with.

It really is a good thing to ask myself whether I can really resist the temptation of the chocolate my son is waving in front of me. Who's in control of the decisions I make about my life? Am I in control or is fleeting desire for something really in charge?

Yes, those are great questions to ponder, but today, I'll ponder while eating lunch and drinking some chai!

And, to start the Baha'i New Year off right, I'm going to a show tonight!

I'm going to go see Guy, Tony Toni Tone, Al B. Sure!, After 7 and Johnny Gill. Whoo hoo! This concert is going to be RIDICULOUS! There are going to be some folks throwing their backs out trying to get their new jack swing on again! I seriously think my husband might pass out and lose his mind during Guy's performance. As for me, I just want to see if Al B. Sure is still hot, and I am a huge fan of Tony Toni Tone. I really want to hear them perform this one:


Gosh, I love that song. If they don't sing that tonight I might throw something at the stage -- all of which just goes to show that I probably should have prayed and meditated a bit more during the Fast because clearly, I have learned nothing!

Los Angelista's A to Z

This morning while I was over at the fabulous 1969's blog, I saw she'd made a list of herself from A-Z. She got the idea from an interview with Halle Berry in InStyle magazine. I told her I was going to steal it because it just looked like a LOT of fun. Plus it's sunny and 80 degrees here in LA and I can't concentrate on much else! I have all my windows open and there are two hummingbirds singing away. Gosh, I love Los Angeles. So here's me from A to Z. At least, for today it is!

A-Adam-12: Adam 12 is my teddy bear that I've had forever. I don't know how long I've had him but it must've been since I was a baby. My children are a bit afraid of him because he has no mouth and a bad leg. But he's a secret agent and he's been on a lot of spy missions over the years so he has the right to look a little jacked up. Plus he has no mouth because he's gotten a lot of kisses from me. Not that kissing me means you necessarily end up, with, er, no mouth...

B-Ballet: I studied ballet until I was 16. I loved dancing in my pointe shoes. I wish I'd never quit. I regret that.

C-Chai: I looove chai! Some people say, "I need a drink," when they feel stressed. I don't. I say, "I need a chai." I don't mind drinking it when I'm not stressed either. But since it doesn't come cheap from Coffee Bean or Starbucks, I'm trying to perfect my at-home chai brewing recipe.

D-Depeche Mode: My favorite band in the whole world since I was a young lass that tied boys to trees and beat them with sticks. I probably sang "Just Can't Get Enough" to my victim as I whacked him. Hmm. That makes it sound like "D" should stand for "Dominatrix", doesn't it?

E-Ears: I didn't get my ears pierced till I was 18. I have a very low tolerance for pain so after getting the left ear pierced, I almost didn't want to get the right ear done. But I figured that would look a little odd so I sucked it up.

F-Facebook: I was so resistant to Facebook but I've gotten to reconnect with so many people I'd fallen out of touch with. It is sort of awkward though when folks I don't really know request to be my friend. And just because we chatted once three years ago, that doesn't mean you know me. I just ignore these requests and I feel guilty about that. Maybe I should just send the person a message and tell them, "Hey, I don't think we can be Facebook friends because if my car broke down on the side of the road, I couldn't call you!" But I'm too chicken to do that.

G-Gentleman: The older I get, the more I see the value of a man knowing how to be a gentleman. And I see the value of mothers and fathers training their sons to become gentlemen.

H-Hair: I haven't straightened my hair since July of '07. I'm going to cut the straight parts off when my sister comes out to visit me in April. It'll be the first time in my entire life that I'll have short hair but I'm looking forward to not having two textures on my head.

I-I Love You, Mommy: Every time I hear my sons say this to me, completely unpromted, my heart just melts. If those are the last words I hear, I'll die happy.

J-Justice League: I didn't even know what the Justice League was before I married my comic book addict husband. Sure I knew about Batman, Super Man and Wonderwoman, but Green Lantern? Hawkgirl? I had no clue. But now, I am a total Justice League convert. I might even be Hawkgirl for Halloween this year.

K-Kick Butt Cardio: Violet Zaki's "Kickbutt Cardio" DVD has really been kicking my, um, butt. I don't feel bad having a hard time getting through the workout because it's fun and besides, SHE has a hard time doing it. Every time Violet says she's about to keel over and die, for some reason, I feel better. I wish I could hire her as my personal trainer.

L- Leela Thai: Leela Thai's my favorite Thai restaurant in all of LA. They have the best red curry with tofu there. I used to order from them every Friday night but now I'm down to twice a month.

M-Memory: I have a terrible memory. The upside of this is that I've developed the habit of telling the truth because I can't remember what's true half the time, let alone any lies.

N-Narcissism: The reason why I'm doing this A-Z list. But don't worry, I won't fall in love my reflection in a pool of water.

O-Orlando Bloom. He's not the best actor on the planet but I don't really care about the acting. His name should be in the dictionary next to "Smokin' Hot Eye Candy". He's sooo hot, I even have a Legolas doll. Sometimes I take it down from it's place of honor on the shelf and... okay, I'll just stop that thought right there.

P-Pacifica's Spanish Amber. I've been wearing this scent for the past couple of weeks and gosh, it smells so good. I smell my clothes when I take them off because I like it so much. I want to get the candles too but it might be too heavy of a scent for summertime. We'll see.

Q-Queasy: I get queasy really easily. That Alice in Wonderland teacup ride at Disneyland is a nightmare for me. Riding in the passenger seat in a car is sometimes tough for me too.

R-Ranunculus: They're my favorite flower. I try to get them for myself at least once or twice a month and I once got them for free from a stranger at at the Trader Joe's on 3rd and Fairfax.

S-Santa Barbara: Will someone please just buy me a house up there? It's such a beautiful area. Okay, you can't afford a house? A small condo will do just fine. Email me and I'll send you my address so you can send me the key to my new digs.

T-Treasure Hunting. I used to read books about treasures found in lost cities and from shipwrecks. I wanted to be a treasure hunter for a while there. Now I just settle for watching movies like "National Treasure" and "The Goonies".

U-Underwears. My four year old likes to strip his off and run around the house yelling, "Mommy, I don't have on any underwears!" One of these days he'll stop saying "underwears" and instead it'll just be "underwear". And I'll feel sad because I'll know my little wild boy is growing up.

V-Virtus Sola Nobilitas: Also known as "Virtue is the only nobility". It's my family motto. Love it. I even have a key chain with the motto on it.

W-Winter: Did I mention that it's 80 degrees here? Yeah, I love winter in Los Angeles. And now I'm going to listen to "Love Like Winter".

X-Xavier Gold: One of my favorite old-school house tracks is "You Used to Hold Me" by Ralphi Rosario and Xavier Gold. Xavier Gold is the singer and wow, she can SANG!

Y- Youth: I've always liked the Sophia Loren quote about the fountain of youth:

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

Z-Zebra: I used to get called "zebra" all the time by mean children who teased me for being half white and half black. I'll never forget how mean those kids were. I know many of you got called names for a wide variety of reasons. Hopefully we each know better than to call other people names because we know how awful it feels.


A-Z, that's me as of today, the 27th day of February! I encourage you to try making this list because it was really fun. I would tag some of you and turn it into a meme, but I'll let you tag yourself. If you decide to do this, let me know.

Starbucks Lesson 187: Don't Ask Who I Voted For!

I proudly wore my "I voted" sticker all day yesterday. When I switched jackets later in the afternoon, I noticed it was losing it's ability to stick so I put a little piece of tape on the back of it so I could continue to sport it all night.

It's still stuck to the jacket I have on this morning, but I'd forgotten all about it's presence. At least, until the blond woman in front of me in a very long line at Starbucks interrupted my daydreams by saying, "Wow, you still have on your "I voted" sticker."

I am, as I noted yesterday, a very excited, proud voter so I was all smiles when I replied, "Oh, I guess I do! I wore this jacket yesterday."

She nodded her head and then snidely asked, "Who'd you go for? Obama?"

First of all, I'm sorry, but folks should know better than to flat out ask people who they voted for. That's just rude. I don't know you and you are not an exit poller. And even if you were, I'm not telling you who I voted for!

Second of all, I'm at Starbucks for crying out loud! I'm just there to get my chai and be out. And doesn't she know it's dangerous to talk to people at Starbucks in the morning? Most of them have not had their caffeine fix and they will snap at you in a heartbeat if you even look at them funny!

Finally, why was she assuming that I voted for Obama? Last time I checked, there are a whole gang of folks still running for the Presidency.

Let me make some "assumptions" back about her. I doubt she assumed this because she believes Obama's so darn awesome and she thinks everybody should vote for him. Nope, she was looking at my skin color and thinking that because it's similar to Barack Obama's that he automatically got my vote.

Who cares about issues or anything like that. If I'm black, I must just love Barack Obama because, well, he's black too. Black people don't care about anything else, right? We don't care about Iraq even though we've got sons, daughters and cousins over there fighting. We don't care about education even though our children disproportionately go to jacked up, failing schools. And we don't care about the economy either even though unemployment rates for black men are ridiculous. No, we're not thinking about any of that stuff. We just wanna see a black man in the White House so we can say we've arrived and Dr. King's dream has finally been realized.

Whatever.

How does she know I'm not one of the over 166,000 California idiots who voted for John Edwards even though he isn't even in the race anymore? And don't get me started on the folks who still voted for Kucinich! Hello! Vote for someone who's still actually running next time, m'kay?

Why be so quick to assume a black woman didn't vote for Hillary Clinton? Maya Angelou loves Hillary Clinton. Maybe I love Maya and therefore love Hillary by extension. And let's not forget about how Hillary was the first black First Lady since her husband was the first black President. Neither one have ever had the experience of trying to catch a cab while black, but that's just semantics, right?

If I'm not for Hillary, maybe I'm wearing John McCain t-shirts when I sleep at night. Maybe I've contributed hundreds of dollars to his campaign because I admire all he's tried to do for campaign finance reform.

And how come she thinks I'm not enamored with Mitt Romney? I mean, I might get sold on Mitt Romney just because I think his campaign press secretary, Kevin Madden, is pretty hot! I mean, Kevin's a nice Irish boy (score ten twenty points right there) and if votes were cast solely on how fly the press secretaries are, well, Mitt Romney beats the other campaigns hands down, no recount needed.

So I decided to mess with Miss Rude Starbucks Know-It-All a little bit.

"No, I didn't vote for Barack Obama," I replied. "Did you vote for him?"

Her face totally lit up and she began to gush. "You didn't vote for... Gosh, you voted for Hillary? I totally thought... Well, I did too! I'm so relieved she won California."

I nodded my head and smiled as she talked. She gave me a conspiratorial grin back as she continued. "It looked sort of scary there for a minute with Maria Shriver and Oprah both backing Barack."

And that's when I dropped my mischievous bomb on her. "Oh I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton. I voted for Ron Paul."

The look on her face was priceless! I thought her head was gonna spin around like she was Linda Blair in "The Exorcist"!

"Oh. Ron Paul. That's an interesting choice," was all she could say.

Yeah, real "interesting".

"Yes, I think he's a new hope for a new generation," I said. I thought my head was going to explode from holding both my anger and my laughter in, but I kept going. "Every time he talks. I just feel so inspired, moved to tears even."

She began to look down as I spoke.

I gave her the clincher. "I know he won't win, but I just love the man!"

She fumbled in her bag, grabbed her cell phone and said, "Oh sorry, I have a call." Then she turned away and began talking into her phone.

Hah hah! Was she faking a cell phone conversation just to get away from talking to yours truly, the black, female, Ron Paul supporter?

Regardless, I hope next time she'll think twice before assuming who voted for certain candidates and then asking people who they voted for.

It's just not polite and besides, she might run into crazy people like moi who will say equally off the wall things just to deal with the wackness being shoveled my way.

Stranger in a Crowd

It's 46 degrees and overcast on this Saturday in New York City. I'm still loving it, even though I'm cold as I don't know what.

Did I really once live in this city and stroll down Broadway on days like this, jacket open, nary a scarf in sight? How times have changed as I shiver in my coat and granny scarf. My hands feel like icicles.

To remedy this chill factor, I just popped into Allegro Coffee, a cafe close to Houston and Bleeker, and am now seated here sipping chai, dreading the moment I must step back outside.

I have so many photos to share, including the one I just took of Foster, an Allegro Coffee employee. Or rather, my photo's of Foster's tattoo on the inside of his right forearm. It's a pig but the pig body is divided into numbered sections. I asked him if I could photograph his pig and he was quite obliging. I don't know how I'd react if some weird woman with crazy curly hair ordered a chai and said, "Excuse me, can I take a picture of your pig tattoo?" But Foster was a total sweetheart and even stuck out both arms. He has a carrot on the other arm. He's planning on turning that arm into a tattoo sleeve of food.

I asked Foster what the divided and numbered pig body is about. It turns out it's a diagram of how a butcher cuts up a pig. Foster used to live in Italy and while there, he worked as a butcher. They say you learn something new every day, but learning about how a butcher cuts up a pig was something I hadn't expected.

In another ten minutes, I'll be heading out the door, heading back into the sea of people out on the streets. Whenever I come here, I always look at the faces of the people I'm walking past because, without fail, every time I'm in this city I run into someone I did not expect to see, someone who doesn't live here, isn't from here and just randomly happens to be in this city, just like me. It hasn't happened yet on this visit, but I still have a whole two days ahead of me. I
wonder who it'll be.

I went to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe last night. I haven't been there in about eight years and it was interesting to see how much nicer the neighborhood's gotten since I last ducked in those doors, and how much more diverse the crowd has become. There were the usual folks with
locs, fros and hoop earrings, but the crowd last night had someone from every background there. That was nice to see.

As luck would have it, it was the semi-finals of their poetry slam. I can't really get into all the finger snapping folks do at those, but I loved every minute of the poetry. The poems seemed to be falling into two categories. Interestingly enough, many were about a longing for spiritual enlightenment, a longing for closeness to God, a crying out to God to heal the ills afflicting both individuals and our collective society.

The second theme I kept hearing was one of fatigue with the disrespect and objectification of women in our culture. And it was nice to see this fatigue coming from both the male and female poets. I took some video of a couple of the artists, so when I get a chance, I'll upload it so you can see what I experienced.

A young poet named "Soulful Jones" won the slam. He did some amazing poems about his mother. His mother was a prostitute. He had nine brothers and sisters and no father. But he is on fire and full of hope. And if he can be hopeful, what excuse do I have to ever give up hope?

I sat on the A train this morning, watching tough girls with their gold door knocker earrings and curly Dominican hair stroll by in tight jeans and Timbs, gum popping and eyes cutting from underneath tilted pageboy caps. I saw women applying even more black eyeliner to their
eyes and men, eyes closed, bobbing their heads to hip hop blaring from iPod headphones.

I watched a West African mother chastise her two small children, a girl and a boy. The lilt of her accent as she said, "Sit in your seat like you're supposed to," was like a music all it's own. The daughter's hair was covered with a colorful head scarf that she seemed to wear with pride. The boy was just as cute as he could be, his eyes shining with the clear desire to get up and explore the train. I wanted to ask them what country they were from, but clearly strangers don't speak to each other on the train. It's taboo to even make eye contact.

All that diversity on the train and we don't see each other, don't really look at each other. If I see you and you see me, if we connect, then we might see each other's vulnerabilities.

Of course, the fear is that one stranger will take advantage of the other's vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

So, my time is up and I must head back out to the cold, back to find the stranger who's face seems so familiar. Who will be that familiar stranger in a crowd?