It's not often that I'm smitten with a new artist, but it's happened! I almost never check out YouTube, unless Rev Sin posts something hilarious, but I happened to be intrigued with this on Perez Hilton, and I just adore it!
Check out Rhydian!
He's Liberace meets Billy Idol meets Martin Fry (ABC) meets Tom Jones. He's genius!
This past week it happened...I joined the Microsoft Zune Generation. No, not with the latest sold out, color driven 80mb Zune, but with a brown (who cares about the color) 30mb Zune. Even at 30mb, I'll never get this thing filled with enough CD's or Movies and Videos. It's pretty amazing. So far, I've downloaded several of my fav CD's into it, including Dale Watson, James Intveld, and many more. In addition, I have 103 other various songs downloaded, and 506 pictures. I often had trouble justifying buying a iPod, and it seemed so many of my friends had iPods, and there I was without. The Zune Generation is now biting hard. The newest are all sold out and the screen size is a BIG plus. I like my Zune, I am having fun with my Zune, and the rest is history!
Would you believe these cats, their offspring, and inbreeds sell for as much as 22k? I love cats and am fascinated but this long eared, beautifially marked creature. They are basically the mix of an African Serval and a Bengal Tiger Cat, and then domesticated through the inbreeding.
Check out this article on CNN below:
Don't you just wish you could do this? I mean, don't you just want to have green hair and ride a skateboard through the streets? I think this YouTube Video explains it all.
Well, I didn't really go anywhere just took some time out for a bit of self-discovery/improvement/transformation. Call it what you like but I'm almost complete with a Leadership program that has lasted for a about 4 months. It has helped me improve my relationships i.e., family, intimate, friendships,working, it has helped me feel physically and emotionally better about myself, I have lost over 10lbs and it has helped me be even more effective in my businesses. It's not therapy and it's not out to "fix" you, it examines what's working and what's not working in every aspect of your life from relationships to finances. It ignites the fires where the burners have become low or went out. The island called me has rebuilt bridges that have been broken, torn down the ones that don't and built new ones and continuing to build more.
What I got out of it for me was therapy, honestly. I have been up, down, in, out with depression for so long that doing this program really helped. I think it shrunk 10 years of counseling down to 4 months. I'm not going to say it's a miracle but it's pretty close.
Also, it helped me realize that life isn't so bad, that I truly do have it good, and that there was really never anything wrong with me, it's just how I internalized and interpreted it and that I let so much consume me. It's also showed me how I was hiding out, how I wasn't letting people get to know the real me ( who is powerful, passionate, creative, sexy and authentic woman) and how I procrastinate and how it creates this huge stressful drama that I never wanted in the first place and it showed me how I take for granted many important people in my life and learn to appreciate them. It also helped me find my voice. To finally speak up and say how I feel. And it's o.k to say no.
And it teaches the value about giving. Just how giving can make such a difference in this world. I just completed a community service project with my Team. We helped the Midnight Mission in downtown L.A. It's a homeless shelters that not only feeds and clothes the homeless but offer other services to get people back on their feet and back into the communities.
On Sunday, normally the shelter does not hand out lunches, so my Team and I, made over 300 lunches and also collected clothing to hand out. It was an amazing opportunity.
I'm starting a record label, well it's still is a band management co. but taking it to the next level. I'm so excited because this is something that I've always wanted to do. And I'm recommitting myself to barflies.net. You will see my by-line more from now on because I have A LOT to say.
So when can I start bowling again?
In late September, I got myself a parking ticket. It was a situation I'm sure we're all familiar with...running to put more money in the meter, just as the L.A.D.O.T. has completed writing up your ticket. And if that weren't enough, I was also lucky enough to have not removed the Marine Corps moto front plate that the previous owner (a good friend of mine) had put on. Thus, equalling not only one, but two tickets!
Now, I thought I would be an asshole back to the traffic cop who had issued me not only one, but two tickets. I thought that I would pay the fine without correcting the violation - surely THAT would show him! Until the same friend who sold me the truck and put the U.S.M.C. plate on the front of the truck informed me that they could suspend my license if I didn't fix it. So much for being passive aggressive.
So, I called the violations bureau, and explained that I'd already mailed in the ticket, so what should I do to correct this? I was told that they'd mail me a letter - which would arrive in 3-5 business days - and that I could have any law enforcement officer sign off on it. Note: ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. That's what I was told when I called.
Ten days later, no letter had arrived, so I called back, and after explaining my situation again, I was told that they'd mail me another letter, which arrived five days later. It was dated October 15th. Ironically, on the same day, I received a second letter on the same day. It was dated October 2nd. Hmmmm.....
A week later, when I had a chance to visit the North Hollywood Police Department (I'd been told "any law enforcement officer," remember?), I was told that they couldn't sign off on fix-it tickets, but they very kindly handed me a list of four places in the Valley that I could go to correct my violation.
The following Tuesday, I stopped by one of those locations, the Burbank Sherriff's Office, parked my truck in the appropriate location, and went in. A very nice Sherriff's Deputy agreed to look at my vehicle, and then told me to visit the office to my right to have it signed off. However, since I presented her the letter that the City of Los Angeles had sent me, and not the actual ticket, she told me I'd have to go to Department 100 to get a copy of the actual ticket. But Department 100 told me that because the ticket was from the Parking Violations Bureau, they didn't have access to the ticket and couldn't get a copy of it. I went back to the office, explained that Department 100 couldn't get a copy of the ticket, so she walked back to talk to her supervisor. I could overhear her supervisor impatiently telling her, "What have I told you? If you have the plate number and the citation number, you can sign off on it." So she did. And after paying the Sherriff's Department $15 for their help, I mailed my now signed-off letter, plus another $10 to the City of Los Angeles, I realized why this frustrating situation - in which everyone I talked to had different information - seemed so familiar. It was because IT WAS EXACTLY LIKE GOING TO A SHOW AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES.