BurrowsInk Live Wire

Day 5 UK Adventure - Show Time

2010-12-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

I had two performances Friday; one at the book fair and the second at the Frankfurt Slam. I didn't know what to expect at the performance at the book fair because I wasn't aware of how many people in the space spoke or understood English. So they had a slam at the book fair with some amazing slammers (don't ask me what their poems were about because I don't speak or understand German, so I made stuff up as I listened LOL). It was amazing however, because there's so much that you pick up just based on the emotions and the sounds of the words, it's like some how you can understand even though you don't exactly understand. I featured at the book fair slam and I just decided to go in. I took it a little slower than usual just because of language but outside of that I rocked my poems just like I would if I was anywhere else. The audience enjoyed themselves and responded well then we had to pack up and move on to the next venue.

On our way to the next performance we saw some cool street performers. Irony, they're performing infront of a bank. Talk about hustle, so if you like what you hear and you don't have cash you could just go into the bank to the ATM and pull something out for them LOL...pretty smart LOL. Also notice, they have product...what??? Ultimate hustlers LOL. We had dinner at a middle eastern restaurant and then walked over to the Frankfurt Slam!!!

This was most interesting. First of all they get 10mins to slam (in America it's 3mins and after that you're penalized). Then there aren't just 5 judges, EVERYBODY judges each slammer (they're given score cards with a list of 3 things, how was the poem, the performance and the subject matter - insane) and they sum the scores to see who goes on to the next round. Needless to say this makes for a long process but I like it because it seems so much more fair than the 5 judge rule....it's kind of hard to sway the judges when everyone is a judge :). There's tons of funny poems, one about finding the right jeans, a political piece and just a lot of great stories (Dirk translated some for me and the rest I just guessed what it was....).

My feature was awesome, I realized that most everyone understands English so I just rocked. I told a few jokes and did my thing. Everyone was so awesome to support and I sold a ton of CDS (my goodness) and I met several people who frequent NYC so I made some new friends :). It was absolutely beautiful and at the end of the night I got to have a couple drinks!!! How great is that ?

Oh, then we caught a cab because apparently the trains in Germany don't run over night (I keep expecting everywhere else to be like NYC, so spoiled). And the cabs in Germany are all Benz's WHAT?? Such luxury....you know how many cabs would get stolen if cabs in NYC were Benzs LOL....it was super cool though, I honestly felt a little hollywood and pretended to be Hale Berry with a German Driver in Frankfurt on my way to the presidential suite after shooting LOL...sooo silly. It was Awesome and Saturday was even better....tell you about it soon!!!

UK Adventure Day 5 - The Hood....

2010-11-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

So, Friday morning we got up bright and early (not really early but early enough for a woman who still hadn't adjusted to the 6hour time difference). Durk served me a wonderful breakfast of bread, venison (which I had never had before) some great cheese and tea. Lovely, especially for a person who is in the habit of skipping breakfast ;).

We then headed to the bank to change my pounds to Euros and we took a little stroll through the town which Durk informed me has a bad rep for being a not so safe place. SO pictured left is what the people of Germany consider 'The Hood'...Now look at this people, does this look like the ghetto to you? I mean really, where's the trash, the graffiti, the crack heads? LOL. I had to take a picture and share this with someone....Don't we wish East New York looked like this LOL :). Wouldn't that be nice.

So anyways, after our stroll through 'the hood' we headed to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Now this Book Fair is the largest Book Fair in the world and there were people from ALL OVER THE WORLD here. There 10 halls that each were the size of 4 foot ball fields full of Books and books and more books and art!!! INSANE!!! I've never seen anything this huge in my life!!!
There were tons of food vendors and tons of performances so I'll have to give you the details in another blog ;).... Chat soon, Happy Turkey Day Loves!!!

UK Adventure Day 4 - Frankfurt

2010-11-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

I headed out to Frankfurt on my 4th day in Europe and for some reason I didn't think to transfer my pounds to Euros so I was theoretically there with no money...Nicely done LOL...I had to take public transportation from the airport to the main subway station....Let me tell you about public transportation in Germany. The subway system is on an honor system. Meaning there are no swipe machines. Therefore, if one is not aware of this one might become a thief in Germany LOL. The most fascinating phenomenon is that everyone who knows actually buys a subway card (which is like 2 euro) and then walks on the train. This would NEVER work in NYC LOL...People steal rides even with the cops right there so I couldn't imagine what we would do with no cops, and no swipe machines. The fine for getting caught without a ticket on the subway is 40 euro so it's really not worth stealing the ride but again, if you don't know and you don't speak German you might accidentally become a thief; not saying that I did but maybe not saying that I didn't, I'm just saying....you should know and maybe there should be signs....in English maybe...I don't know LOL....

So, I successfully made it to Frankfurt main station and met up with my contact Mr. Durk of Frankfurt :). Who made sure that I had a wonderful dinner at a really cool Turkish restaurant. The food was mostly good LOL...they got me y'all. First of all the restaurant is really cute and owned by an actual fisher man so all the seafood is basically the food he caught earlier that day. I had figs for the first time which was awesome and they got me....There was a lovely pink meat on my plate and I wasn't sure what it was...it didn't really smell or anything and wasn't quite ham so I thought, I'll be adventurous and give it a whirl....my friends it was raw salmon....ewww so gross.....damn it...worst, I didn't want to feel rude so once it was in my mouth I decided that I had to finish it...ssssss aaaaahhhhh awkward, so awkward and sooo slimy.....they got me LOL. Worst though, I asked for water thinking I'd just clear the taste a bit and they gave me sparkling water LOL..and I'm so slow that when it comes to me and it has bubbles in it, I'm thinking oh, she gave me a sprite instead how lovely...not at all....so gross. Apparently when one is in Germany one must ask for 'flat' water if you want real tap water. LOL. Again, not wanting to be rude, I drank it....shm...the joys of socially acceptable behavior LOL... Other than that the night was lovely and I got to bed around 11ish which was great because I was exhausted and we had to be up early to catch the Frankfurt Book Fair the next day :)...

UK Adventure Day 3 - Play Time

2010-11-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, day 3 didn't quite get off to an early start. I had been waking up at 5am EST for the last two days and not exactly sleeping soundly (I never sleep well in new environments...) but when we did wake and get it together. We took a stroll through Camden which was pretty cool. It's basically a huge shopping area, total artsy place to be. I saw this really fly leather coat but wasn't willing to spend 200 pounds ($400 US) on a coat...not happening lol...but I did get some really cute jewelry and while walking through Camden I got to get a pretty interesting perspective of what the British think of Americans. We're walking through the shops and tell me why do I come across a newspaper with the following headline 'How To Have Sex Like an American'....Really London? This is what's important? More important than the students protest against paying for higher education? More important than the elections? WTF? And what does that mean anyways? Hell I'm American and I don't even know if I'm having sex like an American LOL....Needless to say I had to take article with me because I just was too curious. So I asked the man who's paper it was if I could have the article and we joked and he gave it to me LOL. We'll discuss the article later LOL...

So after Camden we headed to my feature at Close Up in Queens Head...this place is pretty fly. It's kind of retro but new age and hip all at the same time. The food was good (not cheap but good) and I met Greeds, and Ms. Chloe and Tshaka Campbell came through to show love.

I was the first artist to perform so I kicked a poem and then rocked a few poems with the house band who may I say were bad ass...The last piece I did was Promise but we completely improved and the Lovely Ms. Chloe KILLED IT on the vocals...She's amazing!!! The audience was extremely supportive, I sold 27 pieces, in a crowd of about 80 people... A lovely night indeed!!! The other artist were fun, It was cool to see (forgive me for not remembering his name) this artist who's on Dizzy's label (I love Dizzy's stuff and honestly didn't know he had a label so it was an extra special treat for me). The artist was dope the crowd was dope and there was tons of talent there for the night!!!

I couldn't leave London without hitting the club so we made a trip to Lester Square to check out the night life. First of all on the bus ride there some random British business man (a banker) was all in our conversation and in the process of this conversation he insulted us twice with a smile and had us thanking him when he was done LMAO....example, we're discussing which club we're going to go to and he makes a suggestion and tells Belinda and I that there are lots of good looking strong men there not like these guys (Josh and Greeds) we were with ROTF...I couldn't believe it. It was so awesome ROTF....

We wind at this club called Rumba (I think) and I had a couple of shots and a couple of drinks and tons of dances....my god tons of dances. First of all, I didn't see a bunch of grindin so I definitely looked mad american in the spot, secondly there were too many people sitting around...really people, you paid 10 pounds to sit and drink? I can do that at home LOL....SO my song comes on (Dynamite by Mr. Cruz) and I hit the floor and I'm dancing with this guy, all is well, he's got no rhythm but I don't care and suddenly he grabs a hand full of my hair tilts my head to the side and licks my neck....Party DONE WTF?? Who does that....I was too shocked to do anything but get out of dodge and wash my neck in the bathroom....really London, this is what's poppin' on the streets? LMFAO!!!!

Then some slap happy Nigerian/Russian chick comes to our table cause we're the fun place to be and is play fighting with the boys and somewhere in the midst of it all decides it's okay to slap people in the face....really London? This is what's poppin' on the streets? Needless to say that didn't end too nicely....Sort of stopped the groove a bit....but then we moved on. I had way too much fun....and there's soooo much more but what happens in Rumba stays in Rumba my friends.....so we headed home around 5am and I got ready for my flight....Next stop Frankfurt.... :)

UK Adventure Day 2 - Night Life....

2010-11-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I didn't have a feature on the second night but I did perform at the legendary Poetry Cafe. My escort/friend/tour guide/all around baby sitter, Josh, had to work that night so I was left in the care of the lovely Belinda and the amazing Ray(I think I remembered the name right).

We were there pretty early so I had a cappuccino (courtesy of the lovely Elly of France, pictured left; I think he felt sorry for me and my horrible french lol) and a tomato feta garden salad. The salad was AMAZING!!!! I mean dance worthy good lol. The coffee was lovely too but I really really enjoyed the salad (this could be a biased opinion given that I skipped breakfast LOL).

If I had to compare the poetry cafe to something in NYC I would say it's like The Bowery (as far as the design and books for sale etc). However, the performers and the way they run the open mic is NOTHING like ANYTHING in the states LOL....(this is a good thing mostly LOL).

First of all the open mic list is about 30/35 people deep and secondly each performer has 5 minutes. And when Nail (I hope I spelled that right) says you have 5 minutes, he means 5 freakin' minutes. He puts a HUGE timer behind you with 5 minutes on it and when that thing hits 0 he doesn't care if you're mid sentence he will stop you without a second thought LOL....While my poems are short, I still found myself feeling uncomfortable/nervous/worried about the time while I was up there. Insane. If that bothered me as a professional I can't imagine what first timers feel like. Some people used every last drop of their 5 minutes (and I don't blame them because I did lol) and others talked as fast as they could to get as much as they could said within the 5 minutes. It was mania.

Nail was an awesome host, he's super funny, the poetry was a mix of amazing mind blowing work, short stories and such and some very candid, I just want to get something off my chest type of work. Which made for a very lovely night!!!

After the poetry we walked some of London and went to an area that is basically the British Time Square only it's WAY Smaller and MUCH EMPTIER LOL...it was weird. Ray says it's because it was a week night (Tuesday) but if you've ever been to NYC you know that Time Square is NEVER Empty no matter what day of the week or what time of day....then we bought McDonald's and had to sit inside a burger king to eat it because the McDonald's dining area was closed...I never felt more nervous in my life LOL...for some reason I felt like the burger king police were going to come down and ask us to leave because we weren't eating their food....I believe we inhaled the food and started walking again.

We met with Josh after his shift ended and sat in a like a chicken king fast food place until like 3am when they kicked us out. We took the bus home and life was good. BTW, if you're ever out in London the tube apparently closes late nights.....just fyi. This came as a shock to me since as a New Yorker you know you can catch the subway at any time of day....we're so much alike but not really LOL.....

Last day in London coming up :(.....

UK Adventure Day 2 - Tourist Life

2010-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

My second day in London began around 10am (5am EST) with a beautiful view of the sun peeping in my window. It was surprising that for the entire time I was in the UK I had wonderful weather, not one rainy day....a threat of rain but not a drop to fall...Baller!!!

Josh gave me a quick lesson in money, was kind enough to feed me some super spicy Nigerian rice and chicken for breakfast; which I tried my best to pretend wasn't scolding my taste buds but after the first spoonful and 2mins of bulging eyes I decided that pretending wasn't going to work and just let it go LOL....My god. Then it was off the Internet cafe so that I could let my parents know that I made it safely and all was well (My Mom watches too many movies and she thought I would be like the girl from Taken, I'll save that for another blog lol). From there it was off to play time and pure tourist joy!!!

We took the tube (which as clean [I mean no rodents in sight, no trash, no smells of urine], small and simple [no uptown downtown, no express/local] looking as it is I still haven't quite figured out lol...and might I add that the British are SERIOUS about knowing the whereabouts of their citizens. You have to swipe in and swipe out of the tube....Really? I mean Really?? You gotta know where I am at all times? Do me a favor just put a GPS chip in my ass at birth, save me the hassle LOL) and we were off to Trafalgar Square.

Oh wait, before Trafalgar Square, there was a very entertaining exchange where I really showed off my American Public School Education....we were walking along a road and you could see Big Ben from where we were, so Josh offered to take me there and I was like 'I'm not interested in the clock' LOL LMAO.....I didn't think about how insulting that must have been....it's like someone calling the statue of liberty a torch....so effffed up....my bad LOL. Needless to say after that comment he didn't take me LOL....

Now Trafalgar Square, It's awesome!!! People feed pigeons, there's a really cool boat in a bottle (it's freaking huge), a museum and most importantly the Lions!!! First of all, I couldn't get on the bloody thing because my jeans were sliding so these lovely ladies helped me get up there (I think they may have been LGBT because the really held on to my bum for a little longer than necessary....awkward turtle.....LOL :) anyways once I'm finally on the thing we take mad pictures. I think of the silliest poses I can make and go for it. The only thing that could have made it better is if I could have tagged the Lion and snapped a shot of it LOL. So Brooklyn....And the whole time that I doing all this silly business I'm thinking how uncomfortable we must be making natives feel because they all seem soooo proper....but it gets even better during the week.....

There's a dope museum in the square and an amazing bathroom (I know that shouldn't be my biggest concern but a girl likes a nice bathroom) lol.....From there we were off to another gig but that's an entirely separate blog.... oh, the delight.... More about that tomorrow ;)

UK Adventure - Day 1

2010-11-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Sooo, people have been asking about my recent tour through Europe and rather than have to tell the story 100 times I figured I'd just blog about it.

My first stop on the 10 day tour was London and the first day was anything but ordinary ;). I arrived in Heathrow around 10am (5am EST) and my knight in shining armor, Josh (pictured left), made a 6 hour journey on skateboard (okay really by bus lol) to rescue me. Why did it take him 6 hours....because it was my luck that the fabulous tube workers were on strike that day lol. Best thing about it was that I got to do some writing while I waited, worst part...I had no international service on my phone and wasn't sure what the pay phone was charging me on my credit card so I think I only checked in with him twice AND I had actually never met Josh, so I really didn't know what he looked like lol.

Upon my rescue we headed towards the city at a beautiful rate of 18pounds (which is like $36) and arrived in time to attend an album release for a friend of Josh's. First of all the city is crazy clean...really! No rats, no trash, no funny smells (at least not where we were) and second of I never realized how American I am until this trip lol. I almost got ran over every time we crossed the street because I kept looking the wrong way LMAO, I kept getting strange looks when asking for the restroom because apparently a toilet and a bathroom are two different things and I kept freezing my hands to death because the hot and cold water faucets are set in reverse of how they're set in the states lol.

At the album release I couldn't get over the fact that they reference 'The Queen'. That's such a strange thing to hear as an American because while you know what they're talking about and you know it's a real person; you can't help but feel like you're in a fairytale and start to see visions of the queen from Shrek or something lol. So silly but this is where my mind was. I met the lovely Belinda (pictured above) at the album release and she accompanied us to my first feature of the week @ 'Kid I Wrote Back'.

This event was off the hook. I met some great new friends and saw a very different aspect of poetry. I mean people were really going in; there were people who performed in masks, people performed very experimental/theatrical poetry and I saw some really cool amazing traditional poetry as well!! My set was fun, we laughed joked and then the audience was kind enough to support financially as they purchased albums. May I just say that London currency is easy once you know it but until you do, you just have to trust that people aren't going to rip you off and you're not ripping them off when you're giving them change lol...I'm sure they'll say something in the later case but there's a lot of trust involved in the earlier case.

We wrapped up our evening around 12am ish which is like 7pm EST, ate Kebab & Chips (which were not what I expected lol...I asked for a side of chips and thought I was going to get a small portion, these suckers gave me like 5lbs of fries...really? WTF lol) and I laid to rest in Hackney, thrilled about my first day and looking forward to the remainder of my trip.

Who Broke the Weather Machine.....

2010-02-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

SOOOO, I'm stranded in Chicago's O'Hare Airport all because somebody broke the weather machine and I'm not really feelin' it. I mean I'm down for a snow day here and there but I mean REALLY!!! WTF??? What happened to the good old days of global warming making all our winters mild?? Who set HARRP to Mary's bedroom (cause you know Joseph wasn't giving it up, since she gave him the Okie doke LOL j/k) ? Then to make matters worst, I can't do anything on Face book without getting an error message b/c there's too many of y'all suckers (I mean that with love LOL) online right now....I mean what am I supposed to do with my time (in the words of Uncle Ruckus) "I'm black, I'm not going to the moon. I'm going to the liquor store" LOL.

Speaking of silly stereotypes. I watched a documentary called The Legacy of the Ku Klux Klan and man was it insane. They interviewed Klan members on the documentary and one man said (and mind you this is an interview that took place in 2001) that 'black people were brought to the states as slaves which means they're not our equals and I hope they all go away and stop breathing all the white man's air....' That was the funniest thing I had ever heard. I mean when Chappelle said that as the character Clayton Bigsby, I fell out but to see a person who truly believes that in their heart, in the 21st century, with all the technology that we have......that is just priceless!!!! Best comedy show I ever watched, 'The Legacy of the KKK'....you have to check it out....you'll be surprised at what you learn...It's on the History Channel if you got cable....if not...Netflix son!!!

Well lovelies, I could go on all day but I'm going to spare you the blabber this time. :) Much luv and stay warm,

Sabrilliance...yes I said it LOL...Sabrilliance

Welcome back

2009-08-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

So in case it needs reiteration, I am a college student and if that can work as a probable excuse for my three month absence then so be it; I was on a summer vacation.
Anyways, not much has happened over the same, not much worth writing about..erm MJ died a couple of hours after Farrah and totally stole her thunder. I would do a whole 'why he was the best" tribute but that horse has been beaten to death.
The oh so awesome United States of America decided that since they couldn't get people to stop talking about health care they'd try a diversion technique-que the UBS inquisitions. Now I am all for them cracking down the top wealthiest 1 percent of this nation but lets be real, those investigating the case were probably very friendly with the perps. C'mon feds-we're not that dumb. Well it was blown up in the media for all of a day or two I think, then UBS said screw it, we'll give you the names and numbers of all the hedge fund managers you're looking for if you quit harassing us. And they did-and furthermore I'm sure they're not going to do anything in the way of persecuting anyone...I mean they're money is green...very green.
Erm...what else what else..
Oh hey last night I was watching Mad Men(if you don't know anything about this AMC hit show, find the nearest knife and gorge your right eye out...you deserve it), and they(get this) SMOKED WEED!!! Okay for those of you who don't feel the excitement my capital letters were supposed to impart, let me clear it up. Mad Men is a show centered around the lives of a couple of people that work in an ad agency on Madison Avenue. It is set in the early sixties(time pieces are awesome!) so everyone still smokes,the secretaries are referred to as 'Girls' and they all but bathe their bosses, oh and then there's the booze..so much scotch! I mean they get brandy with breakfast-it's all very glossy and glamorous!!
Anyways last night the creative dept had to come up with 5 holiday scenarios for a Bacardi ad, They were working on a Saturday afternoon at the office when the conversation turned to weed..this dude goes "I wrote my dissertation in college on....and my muse; Mary Jane" I was like WHOA!! was that a marijuana reference? Awesome!!(Don't do drugs kids). I think the icing on the cake was when Peggy(the little uptight-looking only woman who isn't a secretary on the show) walks in and goes "I want to smoke marijuana" in her sing-song 'I love Lucy' voice. Priceless. If I met the people who wrote this episode I would buy them some Columbia...never mind-I'd uh congratulate them.
Well now that I have done some serious advertisement for the show, I'll be off to further my education;until next time
Peace.....

Still Buzzin' from Freak Nasty

2009-08-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

Freak Nasty was last Thursday and people are still buzzin' from the event! Everything from that night was on point. The host JP Justice kept us laughing with all kinds of jokes from Potatoe Salad at Black Cook Outs to Lessons for the Bedroom. Then each artist added their own special twist to their erotic poetry and the night was full of suprises.....Don't take our word for it, read below to see what others had to say about the show.

~A, you should be still grinning from last night show! Everything was amazing! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it! Everyone that came - that I know- greatly enjoyed themselves! Like you said - I have now performed at the Le Poisson Rouge! :)

~OMG Ainsley/Brina .. FREAK NASTY was GREAT!!! Can't wait 'til the next one ... JP's hosting was out of this world -- the poets were awesome and the entertainment was on point. KUDOS -- to BURROWSINK ...!!!

~Hello everybody I had a blast hosting FREAK NASTY last night. You guys was amazing. PLEASE take the time out and friend me here on FACEBOOK or evern better yet got to my site http://instigatedtalk.ning.com/

~Dude, the host was a beast at Freak Nasty

~I enjoyed it all of it hit me up the next time i can bring more people

~There are no words....

~hhmm ... WOW ... GREAT ... WOW ... OMG ... Did she just do that .. LOL .. well .. U HAD TO BE THERE!!!

~There are no words to adequately describe it-if u missed it tough ISHT - it was off the chain - call it FREE!!! LOL

~WELL, JUST ONE WORD "PHENOMENAL" ( I LOVED IT! )

~Ainsley, Burrows inc. did an excellent job!! I don't even care that I only got three hours sleep and came to work today. It was well worth it. I forgot to mention that the lesson you gave, and you know what lesson I am talking about, left me speechless!! I loved it! Hope you can return....

~WE WANT MORE!!!!!!

~Oh man...Ainsley I had a blast! I was telling everybody about it! JP...u were HILARIOUS! I was in tears! It was so well worth it. My pics will be up soon! Hahaha.

~Great show Ainsley and Sabrina! Packed house and great performers (as always). That MC was awesome! I just want to have a party now so I can hire him to make me laugh. My stomach muscles got a workout from his very informative "skit". :-)

~Wow, great show!!!! Don't spend the dollar I threw at you all in one place, lol..You were a GREAT host!!!!

Keep your eyes and ears tuned to the wire to find out when the next Freak Nasty will be :)

The Freakiest Thing You've Ever Done

2009-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

We took an informal poll to find out some of the freakiest things people have done and we got some amazing answers! I bet you want to know what they were and are curious to know if it tops your own freakiest thing you've ever done story....Read below and post your own story if you're brave :)

- ONE TIME I PLAYED THIS GIRL IN A B-BALL GAME & THE DEAL WAS THE WINNER GETS HEAD IN THE PARK. WELL, I WON 16-0.....

-hmmm.... what would make one thing freakier than another? sex in a playground at night. femme-threesome while the bf watched. CBT torturing a dude in a dress in a room full of people. being wrestled into submission, tied up and having all my clothing cut off with huge ass hunting knife while taunting each other with inappropriate racial slurs... etc... define freaky...all examples I posted did occur and I was involved...

-ONE NIGHT IN THE NUYORICAN I READ HER AN EROTIC POEM. SHE CAME QUIETLY IN THE FRONT ROW. WE MET IN THE BATHROOM & SHE CAME WILLINGLY.........

-Ok...here is the situation...1 guy...four women...a little eh em ...some wine...and a poem made of some of the most beautiful flesh one could ever imagine...how long it lasted...now that's the part I can't tell you...lol

- In a limo with a potential employer's wife while he watched and then joined us for round 2.....it quickly became a very worthy investment...LOL

So we've shared some of our stories & some of our favorite stories....tell us some of yours.....

Welcome Back Me

2009-06-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hello, it's been about a month since I posted anything...did you notice? No? Well I didn't ,iss you either...
So every now and then I decidedly get obssessed with a band/artist from the past-you know like a music generation past. One of my favourite obssessions is the fab four themselves, the almighty Beatles. I LOOVE spending time knee deep in Beatle memorabilia-it's really an awesome way to spend dead hours. In the past 2 weeks I have rediscovered their albums from the raw hungry beginnings with Please Please Me, to their trippy Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band(Lucy in the sky with diamonds*) to the uber spiritual Let It Be. I can't imagine how awe inspiring it must have been to see this formidable force live you know? They were forging a path in a diection that had not yet been taken-it must have sucked to be another band trying to make it in their shadow.
I hadn't realized that the Liverpool gang had made more movies than just the 'Hard Day's Night' which I had watched a bagillion times before, but apparently they had. I have now officially committed to memory A Hard Day's Night, Help and Yellow Submarine- I am missing Let It Be and of course Magical Mystery Tour... Their acting was terrible but it's their voices are AWESOME for their brand of humor, they have no intonation so their punchlines are even funnier.
So later after work I am going to rent Magical Mystery Tour... I'm going aaalll the way to the sea of green :-).
Peace.

Meet..my..erm..

2009-05-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Mkay so sometimes you meet a man. And said man just so happens to be pure amazingness but due to prior expediences you and afore mentioned man decide to take things slow; super slow. Days turn into weeks and those weeks into a solid month and still no definition. Now this isn't always a bad thing I mean I'm with Dwele on this one; things get tainted when you label them, However it is more convenient to have some kind of title. It's hard to introduce significant others when they have no title "Hey Sabrina meet my...erm meet Eddie" super awkward!!!
I personally call them a man friend(yes it's weird but at least he's propelled away from the f word-friend- and he is made aware of the fact that we need to move on), This is where the question of caution killing progress comes into play. Are you too scared to pursue this? Are we going to make it past your shadows and their ghosts?
I say every time a relationship ends try and wipe the slate clean. Sweep up after them and re lay the bed so that the next guest will find it accommodating. This way you have room for new memories and maybe even new ghosts-it's the joy of living. What's the point of starting things if you won't see them all the way through..
In case you can't tell this was one of those "I'm venting, ignore me" blogs
Till next week...
Peace

Broken Arrow

2009-05-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

So I was reading this book a long time ago right; it was entitled The Art Of Seduction (by Robert E. Green) and in this book he outlined the various seducer traits, the victims who fall for the said seducers and last but not least the actual process of seduction. It was an engrossing read to say the least- I mean it dealt with appealing to the sub conscious, tapping into one's core psyche...exploring the psychology of the lonely. I was impressed with its depth.
I found out that my seduction style was a dandy/star/something else that I can't remember- anyways apparently my strength was my lack of gender role adaptation(i.e I come off kinda masculine) this intrigues men and helps them let their guard down- they feel like comrades and what not- but all the while there's a tangible tension because man brain or not I am still a woman(an attractive one too if you ask me).
Mkay, here's where the issue comes in; one can easily catch the opposite sex(let's be real dudes aren't that hard to attract-but they don't have an extended attention span)it's keeping them that proves hard. I mean the book easily gives you the tools to catch a man but not how to keep him enchanted. How long can you keep someone hypnotized without them coming to? Is it possible to have someone stay under your spell forever? Surely they will come upon the antidote sooner or later.
What I'm trying to say is when it comes to seduction we somehow forget ourselves in a bid to satisfy someone else's fantasies thus ignoring the real us. We paint the perfect picture- we are the immaculate image of perfection...until they fall into our trap. Now what? You've got the game, why keep using your hunting tactics? This is where your true colors start to bleed through the cracks and the "distance" starts to surface. Questions about why you changed and how you're not what they thought.....yeah mostly because they never got a chance to really meet you. You sabotage the whole thing before you even introduce yourself.

I 'n I Be De Same...

2009-05-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

Mkay so when I was little it was cool to fit in, you know if you all had the same black and white converse with striped socks to match(I just made the socks up but you catch my drift), same lunch box,same lunch-it was the coolest thing if you were all basically carbon copies of each other. Now I have always been friends with the cool kids but I never fit in(I was the honorary cool kid in school)so I always considered myself an outsider-and I think what cemented this status is the fact that I never tried to rectify the situation- I stayed outside the circle on purpose. I learned later that this made me somewhat of a non conformist.
When I got older it became cool to be different-everyone claimed a tweak in character or appearance that separated them from their herd-which in turn made them all the more similar. I looked around and wondered what had happened to the matching outfits-now they were like a visual cacophony of random people trying to disassociate themselves with their former image and it still felt like they were conforming;just in a different mode....
And it just snowballed as I grew even older-now everyone is draped in scarves(in this hot Dallas weather) and super bright "vintage" clothes-you know the over sized jewelry,crazy hats, the glasses-yea the whole nine. And I'm still wondering if they understand that trying to be so different only makes them look the same. Their quest to find uniqueness especially since it doesn't come naturally to them only displays the latest trend-and it's tragic really,especially when these people sit back and talk about the people that blend into the crowd-no wait it's actually pretty hilarious...so my point is; is non conformism the latest form of conforming? If so how does one stay completely genuinely themselves and not look like a poser?
-the answer next week-
Peace.....

Show Me The Money...NOT

2009-04-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

Allow me to internationalize this blog right quick...so over the past oh I don't know, 40 years, Africa has been the sole beneficiary of billions of dollars in monetary aid. This fact has tainted Africa's image- I think it infantalizes governments as a whole.... they are made to look like they can not fend for themselves, they're stuck on the enormous titty that is world aid.
These a fore mentioned governments are still playing catch up with the rest of the world(you know colonialism..AIDS..droughts..civil wars..) and in addition they find themselves dealing with World Bank loans and the induced interest rates-it's like shooting a man on crutches in his good foot-it's just sad really.
In case you can't tell I am very anti government to government aid; it's just not a long term solution to the immense poverty that looms over the beautiful content-matter of fact it's like aspirin for a malignant tumor. I just think there are better ways to heal a nation these large lump sums are merely band aids.
How about investing? How about instead of throwing money at a random nation, you know how about help them cultivate their resources(we all know that these third world nations are rich in resources) so that instead of the super powers exploiting them(resource harvesting basically) the playing field is levelled...So that developed and developing nations are able to trade equally-tada!!!!!!!!
Yes I should be in the UN!!!!!

Feelin' Iree Heights...

2009-04-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Sooo folks, it's 4/20 today and my campus is overrun by heavy eyed, slow walking/stumbling skate boarders; how are you doing today?
So ever since I moved here, I've wondered where this weed celebration came from. Who designated a pot holiday and when? I mean April 20th as far as I was concerned was the Columbine memorial. I eventually decided to check this out and get this; answers.com had no answer!!! When my online encyclopedia of choice is stumped...well that means whatever I looked up must me non existent, but the red eyes and dilated pupils sprawling all over the campus begged to differ so I was forced to dig deeper and sure enough I found something on the oh so reliable wiki...(I ought to write a poem about wikipedia and it;'s extensive material).
Apparently this whole thing got started by some kids from San Rafael High School in California(why am I not suprised?) in the '70s who met up at 4:20 everyday(because that's when they released the kids in detention) to light one up....
On the other hand the Rastafari celebrate it because it is the eve of Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica- now this may not seem like such a big deal but keep in mind that they believe he was the Lion of Judah, the returned messiah that the Bible had promised. His visit was met with hysteria, the airport was crowded with thousands of faithfuls, singing and smoking awaiting their savior. It had been raining and by the time the emperor's plane landed the sky was still dark and stormy but as soon as the doors opened and he stepped out(according to wiki) the sun parted the clouds and shone down on them with the brilliance of a million diamonds(okay fine I exaggerated that last bit..but still).
I prefer the second story to the first one (eh call me biased but Ratsafari intrigue me)... Now kids here must have gone crazy with colored chalk last night because on certain parts of the campus today there's huge pot leaves drawn on the side walks and on the other parts I came across a bold declaration "You can't spell blunt without the UNT"...that should have been our slogan-super catchy, hey those pot heads are kinda clever-oh I go to the Univ. of North Texas...
So anyways it's a bout time I headed to class...Happy 4/20 I guess.
Stay off the grass folks.
Peace

Eaostre Merriments

2009-04-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

No don't worry this isn't going to be one of those rain down on religious festivals blogs...I just had to get that off my chest.
So I went home to the fam this weekend and upon my return I realized that I didn't have my phone charger...my phone died earlier at work and for a couple of days I am phone-less! It's terrible but on the other hand..it's new. I am forced to imagine what it's like not to be able to text while the babies are napping(I work at a day care) or when the professor turns to face the board...ugh it's oh so primitive. It feels like the dark ages right now....what would I do without the Internet(I rushed to the nearest laptop and updated my Facebook so everyone knew what's up). Speaking of which; this Sunday my pastor spent a good thirty minutes on the subject of twitter AHAAHHAAA!!! And like only five people in the whole congregation knew what he was talking about, I was like he should read my last blog...aah the beauties of the Internet. I mean who needs face to face interaction right?(Although I wish I had my phone so I could tweet directly..ugh).
In other news, Lent ended yesterday so a part of me is exalted to finally get back to the debauchery!!!! I mean I am not super religious but every year I try another Faith's practises(call it my trial and error method of finding truth) so this year I gave up certain things that I felt were....stains on what could have been a pristine surface. For the past 40 days(not counting weekends) I had no red meat, no coca cola and no sex.....needless to say my sanity suffered but man am I glad that is over! I don't see how any one can deny themselves the things they love the most (yes those are my favourite things-forget diamonds) for that long. Call me a hedonist but I like pleasure...I pursue it with a deep deep passion. Life is short right?
Well I'm headed to class(and I'm five minutes late...the joy of college)

Myspace/Yourspace

2009-04-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

Mkay so speaking as a college student I have to wonder when Internet took over our lives. I recently got a twitter(yes, I am very ashamed of myself), so now I am accessible through three different world wide channels, that is the almighty Facebook,the still dwindling Myspace and the new comer Twitter(which apparently is hot right now)... My homeboy got me on it and it is CRACK!! I am currently following Dr.Drew (yeah from vh1),Micheal Ian Black(also from vh1) and a whole bunch of random Internet personalities...I am an official people junkie(thus this blog)much like everyone else in this generation.
But am I really addicted to other people's lives or am I addicted to talking about myself? I think we as a generation are obsessed with ourselves, when I eat a cupcake at work it's not that awe inspiring but when I update my twitter telling all those uncaring strangers out there that I just had a fluffy little pick me up, why its the peak of their day; in my opinion anyways. Ah and of course the Facebook pictures. The day after every mundane event,every small show I've gone to, I log on and hope that people tagged me becuase you're a loser if your 'pictures of' link reads below 300(especially if you're not a freshman in college-cos thats a viable excuse). Oh and have you noticed the FB chat? (Erm if you haven't by now, gorge your eyes with whatever sharp object is handy). This oh so-devilishly-good-it-has-to-be-fattening innovation allows us to speak directky to other FB junkies when we're trying to study. If I could say how many times I have gone to the library(in a bid to get some work done because my apartment is too distracting)and sended up on Facebook for hours...let's just say I would have to cram-study the night before almot all my exams(eh c'est la vie).
As for Myspace,well..that's that big sleeping giant; that random dormant volcano that erupts just when you write it off. Yea I recently had a Myspace revolution, I went to a slam poetry night in Dallas the other night and a friend gave me their myspace link(yes he wrote in on a piece of paper)and I found him on there...and the rest of the Dallas poets and I have been Myspacing for the past couple of weeks(ask if you need the link lol).But truth remains its an old glitchy site...
So it's been real folks but I have classes and stuff so....I gotta go
Till next week;follow koyanisquatsi on twitter
PEACE>>>

Can a Brother Breathe?

2009-03-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

I usually try to stay away from political talk but this merits a discussion....What is the world coming to?

Obama has been in office for less than 90 days and every where you turn there's some republican criticizing his every move, and I do mean EVERY MOVE! First they get on him because he doesn't wear a suite jacket to work....really? A Suite jacket? That's what's going to make a difference in his ability to have sound judgement? If that's the case I need to know who makes his suites because they could be saving me a lot of heartache in the dating department LOL. Then they criticize the brother for giving money to AIG who then used it to dish out bonuses. I'm not say what AIG did was ethical but what I am saying is that when I loan money to someone in good faith, I can't control how they spend it. So how does that blame fall on Obama? They accuse the man of being a Socialist (which BTW, isn't an insult; we do lots of business with socialist governments that happen to be doing a lot better than we are right now), a Neo-Marxist and my new personal favorite they accuse the man of hoodwinking Americans to vote for him....Really? That's funny. At least this time we can say, we VOTED for him, haven't been able to say that in the last 8 years.

I was really hoping that the people who didn't vote for Obama were going to at least follow McCain's lead and MTFO LOL. Just Kidding...I was actually hoping that they would be respectful and give the brother room, time and space to do what he needs to do to work through the crisis that our country is in. Personally, I feel like he's done a great job at responding in a quick and efficient manner while working within the realms of our legal structure (which we all know doesn't always have the speediest turn around; unless you move G. W. style LOL). People need to visit shutyourtrap.com and let the man work; he doesn't go to your office and tell you how to do your job so let the brother breathe!