Sunday, December 31, 2006

catalogue

or so i've heard. glad that caught you're attention tho!

if you cared enough to notice, i didn't make it past day 6 of being without myspace, and logged in sometime around 5:30AM this morning. If i'dve held out for another 19 hours i'dve been in the clear, but today i work a double shift with only the internet to entertain me. and with only 20 bucks in my account till tuesday i couldn't very well go shopping online.

here's a quick update of what happened in the last 7 days:

NYE: went home after work and chased down 2 ambien with 2 bottles of Chardonnay. I subsequently blacked out, but not before taking a shower. i woke up wearin' my NYU sweatshirt and nothing else. Jennifer Beals I am NOT. The rest of the day I spent trying to eliminate any and all toxic waste from my system, alternating between sleep and the bathroom.

tuesday i'm pretty sure i did nothing as well. oh, except played with my goddaughter while my sister tried to get some work done from home.


wednesday i had a fire safety director's course that i had to take for work. i woke up and armed myself with some red bull and this thing that was like Mountain Dew on steroids, called Amp. I also made sure that i sat in the front row hoping being under the teacher's direct scrutiny would keep me alert. it worked for the most part. i just get irked when people ask stoopid questions! rgrr...

Thursday i had booked some studio time to re-record "Can't Undo" and "Hustlin" but by the time 6pm hit and i was slated to be there, my energy level just plummeted into the negative and it was all i could do to pull off the simplest riff. After two hours i called it a loss, and re-scheduled for a time when i'd be better prepared, rested, and dammit, when my entourage will be there to come support my insecure ass! Here's all i could salvage from it:

first take

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Friday I basically slept the whole day, thanks to my newly refilled ambien prescription, and zero interruption. I also watched the movie netflix shipped me at work, John Tucker Must Die. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. Although i can be a real sucker for chick flicks. *shrugs*

And finally. I admit that i lost the bet to Kevin. I couldn't hang beyond day 6. as his prize i am required to sing any song of his choice and post it up on myspace. of COURSE he picks something that i have a great deal of difficulty with, and i HATE criticism on this that i normally would have avoided singing altogether. so i decided to ham it up a bit and have a little fun. but for the record, it is NOT me singing, it is my evil French twin Bruno singing Moody's Mood For Love.

wacky mood with a wig

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if you want to hear me tryin to be a lil more serious, you'll have to check out Kevin's blog HERE. since i did the song at his request in the first place. don't thank ME for the sonic assault to your poor ears, thank HIM!



..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />
MY RETURN TO VIDEO GAME LOSER STATUS
i am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my XBOX 360. i ordered Gears of War from Amazon using standard shipping and it STILL got here before my XBOX...aargh.
i got my subscription with Gamefly.com and the first 2 games coming in are "Bully" for my PS2 and "Dreamfall: The Longest Journey" for my XBOX, although i hear tell i can play it on the 360 as well!




So I done bought me a camera and went a little crazy. if you ain't seen the "tasteful" nudie bathtub shot, you ain't missin much. the good stuff was exclusively for the bf. and can i say thank GOD for reciprocity?!

anywho. my job done made me shave finally, and i'm HATIN' on it! so here's a proper sendoff/eulogy to my beard. at least until the damn music thing can pay the bills.


goodbye for now, beard (pt. 1)

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goodbye for now, beard (pt. 2)

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and then i realized. you know, for a singer/songwriter, i should prolly be puttin out a singing sample or something. not because i actually wanted to, but coz it seemed like one of those things you're SUPPOSED to do. so here was my VERY first attempt. and i was RUDELY interrrupted. i promise i will sing for you on my next blog for REAL, but this was way too funny to NOT post:

mortifyingly funny dominic

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BONUS VIDEO!!!!!!
okay i lied. i actually had a first "outtake" to the third video but thought i sounded flat but my boy Kevin liked it so much I decided to give it to my faithful blog readers as a reward for putting up with my crap! woohoo!













so. you know how i always be TALKIN a whole lotta mess about goin' to the great big mythical studio in the sky and re-recording my vocals? the last time i STARTED to say it i just cut myself off midway, and told whoever i was talking to, to "hold up a second," at which point i called the recording studio i used to intern at and booked three hours on Monday evening.

i've decided not to overwhelm myself, so my short term goal that i've just said it this: i will have a finished and mastered version of "Are We Even Yet" by the end of the year.

aiding me in this endeavor is my very talented and very good friend Monroe, who will act as secondary producer, because engineers essential don't give a fuck about you but at the same time will front like they know better, unless there's someone there to tell them exactly what to do. artists can't function as producers within the same span of time, at least not without like-minded people. so Monroe knows what i want done and will basically help me from getting derailed.



also there to provide emotional support so far are Mondo, Diegoand CJ, my brothers in spirit, and um, *sigh* even karaoke. (i'm still kinda HOARSE, actually, so i gotta watch that--which reminds me... lemme go get some tea. brb!) but i know they will help me pull my head out my hairy ass whenever i get all insecure and whatnot. some artists can be SOOOO stoopid. anybody else in my lil circle who happens to be in town is also welcome to come blow my head up ... or just point out when i'm flat . i know Kevin will be there in spirit, at least, which is not a small thing at all. Lydia groggily agreed to roll through, but she hurriedly clicked off the phone and no doubt went back to sleep, so who knows if she'll remember?

my main focus will be on the verses and the bridge, both of which could really use an overhaul. i will only be RECORDING the vocals there, though, and will take the tracks and mix them from home. i been hatin' on my own production skills too long, and ain't tryin to depend on some retard engineer to presume to know how i'm supposed to sound on my own song.



this blog's artist spotlight is a little accidental discovery i made while on my neverending quest to add all of myspace to my friends list and pimp myself out as much as possible. his name is David Walker and I really love his song "Almost Heaven." Plus you just KNOW that anybody down with Melonie Daniels sings their FACE off! Check out his page, add him as a friend, and listen to his song. Still waitin on him to put up another tho, dammit.





in the real world, as you all know, i have been a over a month into my new job without any incident, and heaven forbid, people actually like me, but i haven't gotten caught up in any drama and, while being friendly, am not trying to make any friends. i know my limits, and in order for me to remember that i'm just here for work, and it's not a dead end but a means to an end, i can't be too invested in the people here, either.

the fancy restaurant down the block, Bice, that we recommend our guests to gave everybody at the front desk a bottle of Moet & Chandon, a Cuisinart food processor, and a $100 gift certificate. that's probably the first real christmas present i've ever gotten in a long time. what does that say about my po' underprivileged ass? (besides that i'm po' and underprivileged, that is.)

on the home front, my goddaughter's been at the apartment a lot, because my mom can't get enough of her, but is killing my sleep patterns. love her to death, but it kinda brings home how frustrated, and even restless i am. it's time for me to move out again, and PERMANENTLY. i guess it's because of that that i've been hedging. partially, guilt is making me stay, and a dash of laziness, but i'm still contributing to the rent. i sense a lotta upheaval coming up for me in the near future, and damned if i ain't a lil bit terrified.



and why the hell ain't you left a comment on my voice messages yet?! (not YOU mondo. LMAO.) don't you know you'd be contributing greatly to helping make people think i'm "somebody" and thereby cause them to loiter just a LITTLE bit longer on my page, and maybe even listen to a song or two? don't you care about me?! sheesh. fine. i promise to reciprocate, and even SING a personalized message on your page. now go. make that call. it ain't like i'm asking you to donate money. (hmm........................ NAH! y'all are too cheap anyway. still love you tho!)


Get Your Own Voice PlayerManage



recent random things:



i had the weirdest dream tho. kevin and i went to the supermarket to get some drinks, including one of them HUGE water containers with their own spout (i remember really random things!) and i ran into Shannon Elizabeth. except she was like, 7 feet tall, and struggling to separate the plastic bags from each other so she could put some veggies in one or something. but when i offered to help, she got all stank with me, so i took the whole roll of plastic bags and smacked her over the head with it. i then ran coz she was a BIG girl and woulda easily kicked my ass. i ended up ambushing her in the produce aisle and knocking her out with a coconut! somehow it turned out she and Lydia's friend RAMON of all people were BFFs and when HE showed up wondering what the hell happened to his girl i fronted like i had no clue. just NOW i'm remembering how nina said Lydia kinda look like her. hmm.....



because commercials can sometimes sucker me into buyin' stuff i went out and got Crest: Pro Health. I'm sure it works as advertised. I confess to being disappointed that it doesn't "foam up" as much as my previous toothpastes tho, so i can't pretend to my reflection ("aka Jessica Sanders") that i got rabies.



how excited am i about Avatar the Last Airbender? i used to be an anime snob, but this is some really good stuff! the last episode had me yellin' "oh, snap!" every 10 seconds like it was 1992. download it bootleg or buy it off of iTunes, i want to discuss predictions and speculation dammit!

how bad ass is it that Toph mastered metal, and Katara, well, is just plain ol' bad ass?!?!?






slang term of the week: "a capella"

definition: to have sex without any lubricant. ouch. my coworker came up with that one. we were just having a conversation and i guess in a fit of inspiration asked me if i'd ever tried doin' it "a capella." i died laughing and just HAD to share it. but of course, it's prolly just one of those "had to be there" moments. sigh.




yes i've angsted about it for almost two weeks now. and i knew it would all work out, but i also needed the anxiety to galvanize me. i don't really feel like writing this out in detail, so i'll give you a timeline, and random thoughts about it.

sent the evite about 2 months ago, titled "Post Thanksgiving Dinner" with a tentative menu. The actual menu looked like this:

Pumpkin Bisque with Jumbo Shrimp
Salmon egg rolls w/ Avocado-Mint dipping sauce

Bajan Fried Chicken w/ Curried Honey Dipping Sauce
Chile Verde*

Coconut-Gingered Collared Greens
Traditional Baked Macaroni & Cheese****
Traditional Garlic-Smashed Potatoes*

Pumpkin Bread***
Homemade Oatmeal Raisin Cookies**

Asterisks aside, I had to make everything myself. Very stressful considering I was prepping all this for what was supposed to be 30 people and climbing. One week beforehand it threatened to be almost 50, and my anxiety grew exponentially. So I started food prepping on Tuesday (brought all my kitchenware--Martin had NONE-- from Queens to Harlem. Thank you Blandon for providing transportation), then Thursday, and then all day Friday.


Friday came. I hadn't slept for the last two days between work and stressing over the dinner, and I kept on truckin', afraid that if i even allowed myself one hour of rest my body might try to take way more and give me no more time to prep. At 8am I ended my shift and headed up to Fairway Market in Harlem to get the remaining ingredients. I could've been there all day because I was so in awe of the choices. Thank you Joshua for being available by phone to help calm me down and also assuring me of the number of bunches of collared greens to purchase to properly serve 30 plus people.


Blandon, CJ & Martin

Cabbed it to my friend Martin's apartment where I was holding the party and continued food prep. I kept shelling, chopping, puree-ing, stirring, boiling and droning on like a lil worker zom-BEE till the sun went down, at which point Martin had to flick the lights on for me, because i was too apathetic to do anything but trudge on with my task. Thank you Martin for being so supportive and providing a larger venue. At the last minute we also found out his building lent its tenants long tables and chairs for various parties, and we were able to secure some.


Finally by 6pm there were two finished products, which i set up in their respective chafing dishes. I had decided to give up on the third appetizer I was going to make, the fish cakes. Ah, well. And so I kept on. Thank you Dominic for having enough will power to only throw up a LITTLE bit IN your mouth, when you really just wanted to HURL chunks OUT of your mouth every time you'd snap off the various raw chicken parts with your bare hands. Thank you Lydia for showing up on time and helping me focus and cook the remaining dishes, while managing to prep your WON-derful Chile Verde, and bringing Ramon with you so I could formally apologizing to him for being such a drunken mess the last time I saw him, and so he could also provide his exemplary bartending skills once more and more people trickled through the doorway.


Lydia, Ramon, Yami & Wade

Next Doug showed up and gave me my FOURTH much needed hug for the night (I demand warm hugs from ALL of them!), and then offered to help bake the macaroni and cheese. Thank you Doug for rolling up the sleeves of that lovely navy cashmere sweater and getting your hands dirty for me! Funny that my sister was the only one that came up to me and was like, "He looks JUST like that guy from that show you watch!" I just shrugged. She figured it out later.

The ones that didn't bring food weren't empty-handed, though, bringing the arbitrary bottle of liquor. Thank you Diego (and accessory Danny...lol) for setting the night off proper with their bottle, and for being punctual!

Clockwise from left: Diego, Orlando, CJ, Dominic and Brandon

Thank you Brandon for also being early and helping out. I recruited all the first people that walked through the door. I couldn't think of what to make him do though, since he's so darn petite and dressed UP and i didn't want to ruin his outfit! *grin* I passive aggressively offered to lend him a shirt, which prolly woulda hung on him, makin' him lookin like a lil orphan chile.

Thankfully there were last minute cancellations and no shows, but they would have been welcomed regardless, and I would have compensated. It was good to reconnect with everyone, and meet a coupla myspacers for the first time. Stephen, I don't know what kinda underwear that was, but it was off the chain, wi'chyo drunk self! If you coulda put your bum on the food as WELL as the other guests, you prolly would have! ha!

Stephen & Jakgeem

Ramon & Stephen

Wade showed up with two friends, and a basket of oatmeal raisin cookies from scratch. While I was SO looking forward to his red velvet cupcakes (he couldn't find his grandma's recipe) the cookies were the bomb, and made everyone question for a second if he made them because they were TOO perfect! MAJOR kudos!

Tony & Cat

Ugh. I hate to do this without playing Romper Room and friends, so instead I'll just say I'm glad that those that made it, did: CJ, Jakgeem (thank you for that additional pan of mac, btw!), Hussein, Orlando, Yami, Marisol, Catherina, Tony, Ross, Manny, Chris, Ruben, Justin, Charles, Octavius, Kevin, and even the two stick in the muds that Jakgeem brought with him. Thank you everyone for making my sister feel welcomed!


Justin & Dominic

Manny, Ross & Chris

Around midnight (the event started at seven) my body gave up and i crawled into the bed in the guest room. CJ and his date Orlando were there talking, but i was too tired to care, or even eavesdrop. CJ crawled into bed with me and was trying to coax me out of my half-coma, but I wasn't having it. Next up at bat was Justin, who took a bus up from Maryland. Drowsily, I was digging for gold up my nose, half drunk and exhausted, and he playfully swiped at my hand while a finger was up my nose. Naturally my nose started bleeding. I woke up long enough to smear him with the blood and then rinsing off before going back to bed. I hear everybody filed out shortly after.


Today I cleaned up Martin's apartment with his and Justin's assistance, then headed back to Queens. I rolled up the remaining salmon filling before freezing it all up so it wouldn't go to waste and tried sleeping. Tired as I was, I was even hornier, and kept humping the bed, so I got up and joined Justin and Yami in the living room to watch the My Super Sweet 16 marathon and finish rolling up the rest of the salmon eghg rolls(Yami had called shotgun on the remote) but damned if my mouth wasn't hanging open as I was watching the damn thing, and I got the video and pics to prove it! As I got more tired and bored, the rolls got bigger and bigger as i tried using up everything, until finally i turned the rest into sandwiches for us on whole wheat toast with some shredded vermont white. THAT was amazing, and Justin also recording the look of contentment on my face as I ate. That's why I'm so freaking fat. Still got great skin tho! tee hee

Afterwards I treated us all to a pedicure down the block before I headed off solo to pick up Kevin from JFK Int'l Airport. We were both exhausted so we just slept before I had to go to work, which is where I am. I have a double shift so they're putting me up in one of the rooms in between; I sent Kevin up and I'll be joining him shortly. *grin*

And the weekend is just beginning.









I put my iPod on shuffle the other day while I was on the train, and as each song was playing I decided to put down my thoughts about it on the Word editor feature of my fancy schmancy phone.

Ness ft Nore 'Que Dolor'

It's probably the best anglicized reggaeton song i've heard. The dude can actually sing, but ain't tryna be all r&b. His voice is what the original freestyle singers probably sHOULD have sounded like

Ghostface 'Tooken Back'

I LOVE this man's narratives. He can REALLY tell it almost as it happens, and with a very pracical perspective without succumbing to trite played out cliches. Plus his name is GHOSTACE KILLAH. I LOVE that! There's an edge of desparacy to his tone which really lends a poignancy to his songs as well, and you can really believe that he means what he says, even on something as light as this song.

Cassie 'In Love Wit U'

It's breezy light and good pop. It's just one of those songs/albums/artists that u just take for what it is. Fluff, like alcohol, ain't bad in moderation.

Cindy Lauper 'She Bop'

I used to Love her. Well i guess i'd still love her if she came out with something new, but i also know that woman crazy--i mean, eccentric. My fondest memory of her when i was a kid was this REALLY bad movie --whenever we visited our dad on weekends one of the things we did together was rent movies-- which i loved called "Vibes" where she and Jeff Goldblum played psychics. I think dude from Columbo was also on it. Ah, memories... and it don't hurt that the woman sings her ass off. anybody remember when she did Time After Time with Patti?

George Michael 'I Want Your Sex Pt. 3'

This boy ALWAYS gets me with his use of horn/trumpet solos, giving certain tracks that melancholy, solitary feel, and adding more dimension to the story that the lyrics alone wouldn't suggest. I think I Want Your Sex actually had four parts in the 'Faith' album, and this was a midtempo version that was the white boy version of 'the after party and the hotel lobby'

Tantro metro n devonte 'Everyone Falls in Love'

Ah yes, when I actually was a lil hater and couldn't get into dancehall. Highschool. The lyrics, beat and melody still managed to creep into my head tho. Ethnic pop if u will.

Francisco Cespedes, Todo es un misterio

I have no idea what the hell he's saying. My friend Tomas turned me onto him once upon a time and actually I love th fact that I don't know everything he's saying, causing me to focus on the music itself. Although I do know how to translate text, my brain can't process foreign languages beyond a turtle's pace. But the race, they say, belongs not to the swift--! (did anybody buy that?) I remember singing "Vida Loca" (not the Ricky Martin song!) while at work as a food runner, and my Colombian co-worker Andre kept laughing. Of all the spanish songs to know and share, right? "Loca loca como yo..." indeed.

Alexander O'Neal, Hearsay

I usually skip over this track, but I love Mr. O'Neal, especially his duets with Cherelle. I have a soft spot for darn near every 80's male R&B singer there is. Then Teddy Riley, and R kelly gone and fucked up 90's R&B. Well, maybe that's not fair, but everybody started jumping the band wagon.




COPY AND PASTE THIS CODE TO PUT MY BANNER ON YOUR PAGE:


Next I want y'all to check out the blog my girl Nina wrote regarding the whole Clay Aiken vs Kelly vs Rosie thing that happened in the past week. I Final verdict? Winner: Kelly Ripa. Daddy loves you, girl!

If you don't read it, here's a quote regarding a semi-related issue that's ALWAYS relevant:
"Which brings me to Michael Richards. I've received so many emails asking if I'd heard and if I were going to blog about it. Here's my two cents. Fuck him. Period. Am I surprised at his actions? No. Why? Because I don't know that man from a can of paint. I know Kramer. I like Kramer. Michael Richards? I could give a fuck about.

This incident has sparked several debates, once again, about the use of the word. Here's two more cents - white people, don't say it around black people unless you're ready for reprecussions. Period. Don't worry about whether or not we say it, how we say it, how we spell it, when we say it, etc. Just don't do it. This isn't about black people coming together as one and denouncing the word. One, that shit ain't gonna happen and two, it shouldn't matter how we feel about it. You shouldn't get the inclination to address a black person that way because, hopefully, you were raised better."

And for the white people that really, really, care, and they really, really, really want to know why we can say it and they can't, I ask them, "Why do you want to say it so bad?" If you're so inclined, say it all you want. Print it on t-shirts, shout it from the rooftops, use it up, and see where that gets ya. But for the love of God, stop making it our responsibility as to whether or not it's acceptable. Don't worry about the rappers using it. They're fools getting paid big money to rhyme whatever the hell they want. If they want to drop n-bombs every other line, don't listen to it."




posted by edjamuhkaytedqt at 2:49 PM 0 comments