So have a Happy New Year and move forward into your power and have a great life.  You can do whatever your set your mind to.  It may take time and more energy than you realized and that's okay because you are worth it.

I was blessed to make new friends, connect with old friends, and work on my beloved film project - Code Switching 101, I Am Who I am.  No matter how many people I interview I am always guaranteed to get a fresh perspective. The ladies of BLU did not fail to deliver.   I hope more women attend BLU.  Retreats give one the opportunity to be away from home, away from distractions, and life.  It is our "ME" time.  There is nothing magical in that.  The reality is most of us don't have "ME" time but some think we do.  BLU allows us to be alone with like minded people, people in our age group, ethnic group, who are in various stages of their growth, and development.  That factor alone makes the experience seem like a miracle.  

I hope many more women will attend next year especially those women who previously attended when it was Sistahfest.  I hope those women will return and see the name has changed, our friends have gotten older, and Sistahfest now BLU has changed as a result of the experience but in a positive way.  Sometimes we need to be shaken up and thrown off our axis in order to fight for what we want and appreciate what we have.  They/we fought, we grew from in and we survived.  It's time to come back home ladies the long wait is over.

Am I bragging? Heck no!!  This is a testimony to perseverance, dedication, faith, and patience.  I have learned in my 51 years the difference between selfishness and self-centered.  To be selfish is actually a good thing.  It means to take care of self.  To handing our person needs, to make sure we are the best we can be for ourselves and those who love and need us.  To be self centered is completely different.  It means to think only of self.  It is the opposite of being considerate.  It means others don't matter and your own person needs come often at the expense and well being of others.  So be selfish and not self-centered.  

Thank you for your prayers, positive thoughts and well wishes.  Also, thank you for your patronage.  When you support my music and my vision you support your own freedoms as well.  Each one of us is a stepping stone for another.  We are pavers on the path of success.  Have a great month.

Have a beautiful day, week, month, and year.  Holla back when you can.

Incident #1 - This week I was cursed out twice by total strangers.  Please note the key word at the end of the sentence - strangers.  Let me tell you these folks were strange too.  It was not in person but on facebook.  You should have known right? lol Well anyway, I committed on a photo of a baby being held incorrectly (only the arms were visible and I thought they were my daughters arms. lol oooops).  Thinking I knew the person holding the baby I wrote and said that she needed to support the babies neck.  The infant was very young, too young to hold up his own head.  Well the mother and person actually holding the baby wrote back and cursed me out.  She wanted to know what business of mine was it and why was I even on her page.  In fact I wasn't on her page she was posted on my daughter's page.  

Incident #2 - The next situation was a blog posting that a person in my friends put up.  She wanted everyone to weigh in on a question.  Why do studs strap on and some wear their appendages 24/7?  Many women wrote in was various opinions.  I wrote in too and a woman took offense to what I said and cursed me out.  I began my reply with a joke.  Remember the commercial, "I've fallen and I can't get up"?  Well I said they strapped on and can't get'em off. lol I thought it was cute.  I went on to say, "do they think they are fooling anyone and I wonder if they try to pee from them."  After my silly jokes I became more serious and offered my personal thoughts on the matter, followed by information I've gained through my working on the documentary, and historical information into why and how role playing first began.  Obviously I hit a nerve for one woman because she replied to my post and said don't think you know me.  How dare I basically try to analyze her or think I even know her. lol What the heck!!!?????  She thought I was judging her.

So here's my thought for the month.  No I judge no one but I do question.  Yes I question everything and everybody.  If you think you can tell me something idiotic and I'm just supposed to sit back and shut up? Then you are solely mistaken.  I think we should all examine the language we use let's not judge but by all means let's question.  That's it for me today.  Have a great day, week, month.  lol You never know when I'll be back.  Hey life, it happens.

BTW, please pray for my mother she is ill.  Thanks family

When we last spoke I was suffering through several real life issues; the government's attack on my finances for a debt I didn't owe, which led to homelessness, (I was forced to live with roommates), the threat of bankruptcy, and joblessness.  That was a very trying time in my/our lives but we managed to pull through with style and a smile.  I am very glad to say the entire mess enabled me to teach my daughter such valuable life lessons.  She learned the power of "we", how faith actually works (it should never be blind), and the need for self sufficiency.  I wouldn't change this past year for anything.  It was nothing but blessing after blessing in disguise.  It seemed that we were struggling and experiencing bad luck. NOT!  Losing our car, being forced to live with unkind roommates, and an empty bank account, and the death of our beloved dog.  These things were all blessings.  We learned what we are made of.  We were brought closer together.  The entire time I wanted to write this blog to remind everyone here that life is all about how we chose to see it.  Often if we slow down and cool off we learn that things are not as they appear.  My grandfather taught me that there is something good in everything one just has to look for it.  Most time we are too busy feeling sorry for ourselves, we are too wrapped up in anger, or self doubt to find the true meaning.

Now it's time for me to begin the steady process of really building my career.  I'm still a mother with responsibilities but in some ways they are very limited.  She's not a baby, she's a mature young lady.  Not an adult not completely ready for life yet.  Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you are ready to continue this journey on the road of success.  It's been a great ride so far.

Just a quick note.  I've uploaded a new track in time for pride.  Happy Pride everyone.  I'm still working but as I've said before this year is about my daughter who just had her prom and yes she was gorgeous.  Once she graduates and gets into school it's all about my work.  You will love the new track.  Ya'll get a dance in for me too.

What idiot or should I say slick jerk had the bright idea to use credit scores to determine employment worthiness?  This is the latest in scams designed to derail the American public.  It's not fair, not good business, and is nothing more than "economic profiling", a new form of racial profiling, and the latest method of destroying the family.  This is no accident, it's a deliberate capitalist plot!  Think I'm wrong?  Look around it's the perfect plan because credit effects everyone regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation.  People who once believed they were out of harms reach are now finding themselves slaves to the dollar like all the rest of us.  They too are nothing more than numbers, dollars, and cents.  

I was a full-time student posed to graduate and finally get my long overdue degree and continue with my career and plans to reinvent myself when suddenly!  I've been accused of defaulting on a student loan to a school I never attended.  This school in Colorado RMCAD illegally took funds in my name even though I was not a student.  Now the task to prove I was never a student is completely on me.  They don't have to do anything but stay quiet and they get to wrongfully keep the funds and be unjustly enriched.  How screwed up is that?  Will they every be prosecuted? NO!  The government is  taking me the innocent victim through the ringer.  I've been terminated from my job, can't get other jobs because of credit and the wrongful default.  I'm battling the potential possibility of homelessness, depression, and buying a trench coat.  

What's wrong with us Americans?  We allow so much blatant government and corporate wrong doing go unchecked but scream to high heaven over football coaches we think need to be fired because they didn't produce a winning season.  What about our local and federal government?  What about 8 years of Bush's failed presidential tenancy?  Then the democrats & republicans have failed us for years and what do we do? Absolutely nothing.  Well most of us do nothing.  Some people like them or not formed the "Tea Party".  Called them ignorant, misguided, or political vandals but at least they are taking matters into their own hands.  WE need to stop waiting until we are victims to become vocal and mobile because by then it's far too late!

Anyway, I won't be graduating this semester, I had to put my dog to sleep, I just bought a new car then lost my job, my mother is ill, and I am facing homelessness and a nervous breakdown.  Ok wait I'm not facing a nervous breakdown.  I was being dramatic but it could and would've happened if I didn't have a strong spiritual connection.  Even still how much is one person supposed to take?  Enough is enough!  

Ok that was me venting and keeping you up to date with my life.  Believe it or not I'm in surprisingly good spirits, my health is good, and I am filled with contempt for the federal government but hope for my future.  How? lol Shh that's my secret and it doesn't involve liquids, rocks, powder, or a bump on the head. lol Well family thanks for listening.  I hope your year has begun better than mine.  Just because it's started poorly doesn't mean it will end the same. Hugs & kisses keep me in your thoughts, prayers and meditations and I will keep you all in mine.

Ochi

As for this day well I can't get excited over a holiday that commemorates the slaughter of millions of indigenous people.  I'm not thankful for the white supremacist, capitalist celebration this day officially represents.