My Fall Bucket List: The NYC Edition

This list is a mere slice of the fun I'll be having this fall.

1.  New York Comic Con! It's like prom for nerds, so it's only appropriate that I take my niece Fatso, a black STEM girl of epic proportions that looks like a sub-Saharan African supermodel.  (There's got to be a really funny joke in there somewhere.)  We go every year, just about. Together, we will meander our way through the Javits and take a lot of pictures.  As usual, my blackness will be my costume.
   
   
2. Diane Arbus: In The Beginning at The Met/Breuer  Her images are so iconic at this point that a lot of contemporary photography echoes her work -- when they're not flat out imitating it.  Here's my chance to see some of her earliest photographs. 
   
   And yes, I saw her mammoth retrospective at The Met some years ago.  For a long time afterwards -- too long, really -- I daydreamed about those children frozen in stiff black and white portraits with their blurry twisted faces, like a visual stammer that bounced against an audible one somewhere in the recesses of time and memory and randomness, and I wondered whatever happened to them, and that made me wonder what could have been.
   
   
3. Luke Cage, Birth of a Nation and Insecure. Enough said.
   
4. The Pumpkin Flotilla at the Central Park Conservancy Who knows? I might make one this year.
   
5. Seedless ThomCord grapes are better than candy. Wild caught salmon skin is better than bacon.
   
6.  Juice Press is turning me into a vegan.
   
   
7.  Steely Dan's Beacon Theater Residency in October -- they've got 10 dates, and most of them are themed (October 16th is Aja!)
   
8. Manhattan Vintage  This annual pilgrimage must be taken with BFFs who love vintage as much as I do, so we can all flip out over the cool stuff we find, whether we can afford it or not.  Lately, I'm a little giddier than usual because I ca fit into more and more of the incredibly dope old cool stuff in my closet.
   
9. Byron Lars Beauty Mark Tackles Size & Inclusion in Fashion  I didn't miss Byron Lars' runway show during Fashion Week in September (I took Fatso but she didn't like it) and I 'm not going to miss this, either -- it's a panel discussion that includes: Liz Black (Journalist-Refinery 29) Michaela Angela Davis (Cultural Critic-CNN & Creator MADFree), Byron Lars (Byron Lars Beauty Mark), Allison McGevna (Editorial Director - Hello Beautiful) and Lynne Ronin (CEO-Nation Design).
   
   
10. ETHEL (and friends) at The Met It'll be nice to lose myself in their take on classical music with MPB -- and since Fatso plays the cello, I'll probably take her, too.

Fall Bucket List 2014 -- The Harlem Edition

Sure, I made a list like this last year but it wasn't comprehensive enough -- and it was way too generic.  Maybe this one is way too personal. No need for candy apples of any kind (I won't jeopardize my dental work!) or football (I'm only remotely interested...) or haunted houses (in other parts of the country, they're really haunted!) or hayrides, which aren't as fun as you might think.

The list above is for a suburban midwesterner.  This list isn't specific to Harlem, per se -- but I am, more or less. This neighborhood's ongoing tide of gentrification makes me feel like even more of an outsider than I did when I got here. If you're in New York City and if you're as geeky and curious and insatiable as I am, and if you're not interested in going where everyone else boldly goes, this list is definitely for you.

1. The New York Comic Con -- October 9 - 12 at the Javits Center! That's right, kids -- I'm going to the nerd prom. Wheeeeee!
2. Exhibit #1: See Prune Nourry's Terracotta Daughters at FIAF.  From the website: An army of young girls assembles in the first U.S. showing of Terracotta Daughters, a monumental exhibition of 108 life-sized and individually crafted clay sculptures that recall China’s famous Terracotta Warriors.
3. Sample the fall menu at The Cecil.  I will miss the Frogmore Stew but I am very much looking forward to the bold, inventive additions to the dim sum menu and yes, their African/Asian take on roast duck.
   
4. Do a 30 day cleanse. This time around, I'm doing The Clean Program for at least 21 days, I'll be incorporating a 7 day cleanse initially and I'll be working out. Yep -- I'm going to be a lot of fun in October.
5. Go to a drive-in movie!  Click here for a list of five movie theaters that are less than a 2 hour drive from New York City.  I'll make a picnic basket and maybe we'll catch a double feature...!
6. Go to The Halloween Parade and Pumpkin Flotilla -- October 26th, 3:30pm - 6:30pm This is way more fun than wandering through a pumpkin patch. It's a family-friendly, beautiful and yes, free annual event, sponsored by the Central Park Conservancy and it features music, arts and crafts, and glowing pumpkins, floating across the water at sundown.
7. Exhibit #2: See Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion at the New York Historical Society. From the website: ...explores the centuries-long history of trade and immigration between China and the United States—a history that involved New York from its very beginnings—and will raise the question “What does it mean to be an American?” The exhibit narrative extends from the late eighteenth century to the present and includes all regions of the country, thus interpreting the Chinese American saga as a key part of American history.
8. The Apollo Theater Presents Apollo Uptown Hall: The Harlem/South Africa Connection -- October 12th, 3pm. This panel discussion will feature Harry Belafonte, former Mayor David Dinkins and other notable speakers/activists. And yep, it's free.
9. Exhibit #3: The Matisse Cut-outs.  You're welcome.
   
10. Wine Tasting Series in The Balcony Lounge at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This happens on the first weekend of every month.  And MPB says it's delicious. I have a serious thing for this lounge, anyway -- mostly because they have wifi and they let me stay for as long as I want.

Post Food Fest

This Thanksgiving, I didn't eat myself into a coma.  Please congratulate me.

What's more, I actually enjoyed the dressing.  I managed to relax. I made a delicious dessert. I enjoyed the day -- and the company. Somewhere in my recent past, I realized that I don't love roast turkey as much as everyone else does,  so oversleeping and inhaling leftovers in my underwear doesn't happen anymore.  After wandering through The Met to see the latest exhibits and having jasmine tea in the Balcony Lounge, MPB and I ambled home to nosh on world class Mexican food (alhambres!) for dinner and watch a movie on Netflix.

*GASP* Could it be that my "relationship" with food has finally taken a back seat to the rest of my life?  Let's see what develops...

The Secret (Chinese) Life of Peonies

I'm not ready for fall -- not by a long shot -- but with this image, Banksy makes me want to get ready.  Vomiting flowers is what I do as an artist. I'm fairly convinced that I've got acres upon acres of an English country garden in my creative belly, and everything in me is wanting to spew it all out.

 

I fell in love with the peony this summer and wore them like crazy.  They make me so happy. I have no idea why. Of course if I put flowers on my head and sing jazz, the whole world swears that I look exactly like Billie Holiday, which is disturbing because quite obviously I don't resemble her at all.  And peonies are not gardenias. (The flowers are actually an homage to The Pointer Sisters, whom I adored when I was a kid.)  As it turns out, I was instinctively reaching for something more.

In Chinese culture, the peony is the flower of spring and is referred to as the king (or queen) of flowers. It was grown for medicinal purposes for 2,000 years (the root is used to cure convulsions, menstrual cramps and asthma, for example) before anyone fell in love with those gigantic blossoms. It's symbolic of nobility -- perhaps because it was popular in imperial palaces in the Sui and Tang dynasties -- and is a metaphor for female beauty.  It always represents elegance and poise. When it is closed, the peony and the ants that labor tirelessly on its behalf (it can't open without them) symbolizes industriousness and optimism.  In full bloom, it symbolizes peace -- and the rewards of hard work.

In Japan, the peony symbolizes wealth, good fortune, honor, daring and masculine bravery.

The Greek translation of peony is "praisegiving" -- and in Europe, the peony is called "the rose without thorns" and symbolizes a happy marriage.

All of what that flower symbolizes encompasses so much of who I am as an artist and as a person.  Stylewise, I'm not so sure I'll ever be able to walk away from them completely...

Silver lining

I'm running around in whatever sunlight I can find, letting creativity flow out of me however it wants -- practicing guitar, working on rewrites and listening to hot jazz to keep warm.  Disappearing into museums and drifting around and bouncing ideas in my head is a necessity.  Morning pages are essential. Making good use of my library card is an absolute must. I"m getting obsessed with boxing all over again.  My body is starting to wake up. More oral surgery means more drugs. Silver lining.

The other day, I made the most perfect upside-down cake and I was so happy, I quite literally jumped for joy. What's up with that?

happy labor day

all of a sudden, it's not summer anymore. there was this cold snap and it rattled the sunshine and the warmth out of everything and then it rained a lot and that was that. it's pretty soggy outside now.  not that rain is going to keep anyone in my neighborhood from barbecuing on the sidewalk.

hello, fall.

i'm inbetween decisions, bouncing ideas around, up to my neck in rewrites and, as usual, i'm running with scissors.  i feel quite fortunate because songs are still coming at me -- fully formed, full of feeling, insistent -- and i'm full of resolve to finish what i've started, namely self-releasing my next album, getting my musical the billie holiday project developed and produced and making a short film idea a reality. 

in the meantime, i'm doing a severe amount of spring cleaning and throwing things away with strategic abandon. God. i am such a hoarder. something has to snap me out of it or so help me Jesus, i'll end up like one of those old ladies that's buried alive in a houseful of clothes, useless expensive piffle and of course garbage.

i've returned to boxing with an absolute vengeance -- because nothing annoys me more than not being able to fit into my clothes every season.  and besides, i think i'm actually getting good at it.

ok. gotta go.  time for that daily five mile run that's supposed to give me the endurance i need to not collapse from exhaustion when i really throw myself into a boxing conditioning session.

pause, shift gears and go

i'm eating clean for the next 30 days -- and working out diligently every single day with my boxing coach -- to jumpstart my system, dropkick myself into fall and give myself a boost physically. whatever seasonal sluggishness i feel needs to dissipate. i have way too much work to do.

i even joined a workout group, to keep me on the straight and narrow. the sticky part? taking "before" pictures and weighing in every week.

everything feels like a new beginning, somehow. the rain is off and on all week and i want to feel sad about it but its washing away the filth in the streets and making everything new all over again, especially when the devil beats his wife. 

yeesh. it almost feels as though i'm saying goodbye to the sun.

occupy wall street #4 - one month and one day

initiated by the canadian activist group adbusters and inspired by the arab spring movement, occupy wall street began in zuccotti park 31 days ago. although political pundits were dismissive initially, occupy wall street has proven to be a well-organized, well-funded machine, global and gaining in momentum and impossible to ignore. everyone that is anyone in washington, dc and the media is being forced to weigh in and assess the situation -- and hardly anyone is getting it right.

one thing is certain: anyone who doesn't know or understand what this movement is about or what they want isn't paying attention.

consider this: on saturday october 15, there were over 1,500 events in 82 countries -- over 100 events in this country alone. if they've managed to do this in a month, what do you think they'll accomplish in a year?



this is a small slice of what happened in times square the other night. question: who is the supergenius that thought it was a great idea to have police on horseback in a crowd of thousands? what if the horse gets excited and rears up or falls or tramples someone?

i especially love the fact that there are so many cameras floating around all over the place. something happens and everyone whips out whatever they've got, even if it's just the one on their phones. they swarm around the action and pow! everyone's got a mini-documentary film going on.



God bless this brother right here -- u.s. marine sargeant shemar thomas. in this video, he verbally castigates the nypd after watching them assault unarmed protesters. sargeant thomas even went so far as to boldly approach them and continue to chew them out. that ballsy move in and of itself alone would have been enough to earn him a beat-down of epic proportions from the blue line. maybe the army of cameras -- and knowing that whatever they did would be on youtube.com the next day -- kept them from wilding out.

stay tuned. clearly, this is only the beginning.

Happy Bosses Day!

occupy wall street #3 - another moveon.org missive

there are over 1,500 cities participating in occupy events. find one at http://www.occupytogether.org or http://www.meetup.com/occupytogether

i'm not sure that i'll make it to the wall street protests tomorrow -- i'd like to go and take pictures, at least -- but for those who'd like to know what's up, here's some interesting information from moveon.org.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have you heard the incredible news?

Thanks to the unflinching commitment of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, and support from New Yorkers and hundreds of thousands of people across the country, they won their fight this morning to continue the occupation of Zuccotti Park . ¹

Mayor Bloomberg and Brookfield Properties, the real estate conglomerate that owns Zuccotti Park, backed down on their threat to evict the protesters in the face of massive public opposition.

This morning, we saw what happens when hundreds of thousands of us mobilize. So now, Occupy Wall Street is calling for a global day of action tomorrow against Wall Street greed , with events in more than 950 cities and 82 countries. ²

But New York is the flagship city for this growing movement, so it's crucial that we show up tomorrow. There are two main occupation solidarity events in New York—come to either, or both!

Stand for the Dream Against Chase Bank
When: Saturday, October 15, 11 a.m.
Where: Liberty Plaza, Church St. and Cedar St.
What: A day of action against Chase Bank

The Occupation Party
When: Saturday, October 15, 5 p.m.
Where: Times Square
What: A stunning moment of hope and solidarity (wear white)

After the news hit that the Occupy Wall Street protesters would be effectively evicted from Zuccotti Park, the call went out across the country.

300,000 MoveOn members signed an emergency petition to Mayor Bloomberg in less than 24 hours , which was delivered to the park and City Hall last night. Tens of thousands of people across the country put in calls to the city, demanding that the protesters be allowed to stay.

And at 6 this morning, thousands of MoveOn members, union workers, community organizers, and other brave New Yorkers swelled the ranks of the protesters, standing with them shoulder-to-shoulder against their impending eviction.

Most incredible were the 99% protesters themselves. They stood their ground, in the best traditions of nonviolent resistance. And in an amazing show of organization and action, they undertook a full-scale cleaning of the park, taking away the false pretext of a "cleaning operation" under which Brookfield and the city were threatening to evict them.

It will only get better, so join one of Saturday's solidarity actions in New York tomorrow.

Stand for the Dream Against Chase Bank
When: Saturday, October 15, 11 a.m.
Where: Liberty Plaza, Church St. and Cedar St.
What: A day of action against Chase Bank

The Occupation Party
When: Saturday, October 15, 5 p.m.
Where: Times Square
What: A stunning moment of hope and solidarity (wear white)

Thanks for all you do.

–Justin, Sarah, Elena, Stefanie, and the rest of the team

P.S. To make sure you're kept up-to-date on urgent Occupy actions, like the threatened eviction this morning, click here to sign up for SMS alerts on Occupy Wall Street.

Sources:

1. "Occupy Wall Street Protesters Hold On To Zuccotti Park For Another Day," Huffington Post, October 14, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=265350&id=32008-1286937-xULSkpx&t=7

2. "#OWS VICTORY: The people have prevailed, gear up for the global day of action," OccupyWallStreet, October 14, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=265351&id=32008-1286937-xULSkpx&t=8

occupy wall street #2: the live feed!

according to gil-scott heron, the revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised - but that doesn't mean it won't be on the internet. now you can be in the thick of it all, whether you're all the way across the country or all the way across town.

i hope the whole world is watching when the cops clear everyone out of the park tomorrow morning, so it can be cleaned. i suppose it doesn't matter that everyone is cleaning it now. it's surprisingly organized down there.

Watch live streaming video from occupywallstnyc at livestream.com

too bad i missed tom morello's performance in liberty park as his acoustic guitar-slingin' alter ego the nightwatchman but i had an audition that wouldn't wait.

i leave you with a few powerful remarks from gil-scott heron -- because there's just way too many intelligent, educated and supposedly well-informed people in this country who don't know who he is.

Reconsider Columbus Day

They lied to you in school. Christopher Columbus was an obsessively cruel religious zealot, a genocidal maniac responsible for slaughtering millions of natives in the Americas in the most violent ways imaginable and initiating the slave trade. Oh -- and he was also a heroin addict. No one knows what he actually looks like. Most historians aren't even sure what his real name is. He may not even be Italian.

It's no small wonder that many Americans would prefer not to celebrate Columbus Day. There is a growing movement to reconsider this holiday, see it for what it is and deconstruct it entirely for a day that honors people of color. The state of South Dakota has officially changed Columbus Day to Native American Day. Meanwhile, 22 states refuse to recognize this holiday.

Now, that's the kind of stuff that makes me proud to be an American. If you agree, you can sign the online petition to create a national holiday for Native Americans.



Here's a few fun facts about Christopher Columbus that will probably blow your hair back, if you've got any. How much of this did you learn in school?

1. Columbus was a fervent Catholic who believed God had chosen him for a great destiny -- but his folks may have been "conversos" -- converted Spanish Jews!
   
2. Christopher Columbus’ real name is not Christopher Columbus, although interestingly, that's the name that he chose for himself. His name varies from country to country. In Genoa (his birthplace, supposedly) it's Chrisoffa Corombo. Some historians claim that Columbus was in reality a Portuguese Jew whose real name was Salvador Fernandes Zarco.
3. Columbus wrote in Spanish -- not Italian or Latin! -- his entire life. (See #1 and #2.)
   
4. Columbus began sailing at the age of 14.
5. Columbus never wanted to prove the Earth was round because everyone already knew it. His goal was to find an overseas trade route to India and China. Thanks to their proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, Italy controlled trade to the East -- so they weren't all that excited about him looking for a new route.
   
6. It was Columbus' younger brother Bartholomew’s idea to sail across the ocean -- not his.
7. Contrary to popular myth, Spain's Queen Isabella never sold her jewelry to pay for Columbus's voyage. She and King Ferdinand financed the trip partly through investors -- Italian investors! (See #5.)
   
8. Columbus made four trips west but he never actually set foot on U.S. soil. Initially, he landed on an island in the Bahamas.
9. Columbus always insisted -- in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary -- that the land he "discovered" was a part of the Asian continent, as described by Marco Polo and other European explorers.
   
10. Columbus is responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent men, women, children and infants in The New World. He's the one who opened the door for Cortez the Killer and many other European explorers to sail to the west and decimate the indigenous people of the Americas. He all but wiped out the Tainos, the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. They were beaten, tortured, raped, enslaved and murdered. According to Ward Churchill, former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado: By 1496, the Taino population had been reduced from as many as eight million to around three million. In 1514, a census showed only 22,000 Taino remained alive. By 1542 there were only 200 remaining and after that, they were considered extinct, as was becoming more and more the case throughout the Caribbean basin. The Taino are NOT extinct, by the way.
11. Columbus was the new world's first slave trader. Failing at finding enough gold to pay investors in in his second voyage, Columbus returned to Spain with 500 Arawaks (Tainos) of which 300 survived to be sold “naked as the day they were born.”
12. Columbus reintroduced horses to the West. YES, there were horses here some 12,ooo years before the Spaniards showed up with Mustangs that went feral and ran wild across the plains. Scientific evidence shows that although the horse (equues ferus) originated in North America and thrived here for over 57 million years, they died out after the Pleistocene era. There are interesting theories as to what may have happened.
    
13. Columbus was an opium addict -- the same drug used in producing modern-day heroin. (This wasn't unusual in the 1400s. The King and Queen of Spain were hooked, too.)
    
14. Paintings depicting Columbus are not based on his actual looks. He is said to have light eyes, freckles and red hair.

Today's Sermon

today's sermon -- don't despise the day of small endings, by pastor carter conlon -- comes to you from this morning's 10am service at times square church in new york city. click here for the mp3 and be blessed.

Happy Yom Kippur!

an open letter from moveon.org...

when i got this email from moveon.org, i couldn't resist the urge to blog it.
please read this. please participate, if you can. (i'm thinking about showing
up and taking a few photos.) and please repost. (everyone should
know about this...)

------------------------------------------------

We're going to stage a massive "Virtual March on Wall Street"
online to show our support for the Occupy Wall Street protests
this Wednesday. Sign up to join hundreds of thousands of voices
of solidarity and help show just how widespread the outrage
Wall Street really is.

Over the last two weeks, an amazing wave of protest against Wall Street
and the big banks has erupted across the country.

In Seattle, San Francisco, Ohio, and Boston (where 3,000 people rallied),1
grassroots groups have shut down banks and held sit-ins to demand that
giant banks pay their fair share of taxes, end the foreclosure crisis, and
create jobs.

In financial centers like Chicago and Atlanta, hundreds of people have set
up encampments in front of major financial institutions for
round-the-clock demonstrations.

Outside Los Angeles, community members have been running a 24-hour vigil
around the home of Rose Gudiel, who faces eviction after getting
foreclosed on for being two weeks late on a mortgage payment after her
younger brother was murdered.2

But the biggest protests are on Wall Street itself. "Occupy Wall Street,"
which began with a brave group of young people, has swelled to thousands
of students, unemployed folks, union members, and others who have
persevered through intense police harassment and mass arrests to sustain a
rolling 24-hour-a-day protest against the bankers who've wrecked our
economy and undermined our democracy.3

On Wednesday, MoveOn members will join labor and community groups in New
York City for a huge march down to the protest site--the biggest yet.

And because we can't all be in New York, we're going to stage a massive
"Virtual March on Wall Street" online with our friends at Rebuild the
Dream. Together, we'll add hundreds of thousands of voices of solidarity
from the American Dream Movement for the protests across the country and
show just how widespread outrage at the Wall Street banks really is.

Click here to sign up to join the Virtual March on Wall Street this
Wednesday

The protests on Wall Street have been running for two weeks straight and
are only getting bigger every day. The signs, placards, and chants focus
on standing up for what the protesters are calling "the 99%" of us who are
suffering while Wall Street bankers grow richer by the day.

In a telling moment last week, a group of bankers even went so far as to
mock the protests while sipping champagne from balconies overlooking
thousands of people marching down Wall Street.4

But adding mockery to the callous disregard for our country that we've
seen from the big banks isn't slowing down the Occupy Wall Street movement
one bit. The protests on Wall Street are set to grow even more this week
and solidarity actions are already planned in dozens more cities.

You can see what's planned in your area by visiting the solidarity site
Occupy Together: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264645&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=11

And you can sign up to add your voice to the national "Virtual March on
Wall Street" online here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/joinvirtualwallstreet/?id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=12

Thanks for all you do.

--Justin, Robin, Peter, Elena, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "BofA's Boston Building Draws Protesters; 21 Arrests Are Made,"
bloomberg.com, September 30, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264642&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=13

2. "La Puente Family Fights Eviction from Foreclosed Home," KTLA.com,
September 29, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264643&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=14

3. "Anti-Wall Street Protestors Vow to Keep Up Fight," Reuters, October 2,
2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264644&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=15

4. "Occupy Wall Street Protestors Meet Champagne Sippers," abcnews.com,
September 30, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264649&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=16

References

Visible links
.. http://www.civic.moveon.org/joinvirtualwallstreet/?id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=10
.. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264645&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=11
.. http://www.civic.moveon.org/joinvirtualwallstreet/?id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=12
.. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264642&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=13
.. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264643&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=14
.. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264644&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=15
.. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264649&id=31654-1286937-W4A_otx&t=16

Today's Sermon

today's sermon, when healing comes from a broken place, comes to you from pastor william carrol of times square church, deep in the heart of the theater district in new york city. click here for the mp3. listen and be blessed.

it's about time

time to recalibrate: organize receipts, make donations, declutter everything and get organized. time to clean it all up and clear it all out. time to buy a lush green wreath for the front door and a charlie brown tree for the living room. time to get lost in a russian banya. time for a serious visit to la casa day spa. time for a cleansing fast.

there's all this other stuff going on -- guitar practice, auditions, rewrites, recording sessions, piano lessons and work, work, work -- so cleaning house happens in spurts. but it happens. and for that, i am truly grateful. i know it sounds like i'm turning into howard hughes, but it feels good from the inside out, waking up in a clean house.

lately, it feels like i'm running uphill in slow motion. that feeling is probably not going to leave me anytime soon. not until this album is done, anyway. today i'm so exhausted, i don't have any energy for boxing class, which saddens me profoundly. there's too much to work on physically -- my right cross isn't as strong as it should be -- and if i miss a day of it, i can feel it.

*sigh*

onward and upward.