So.. Make Music Monday had to be put on hold because I left my silly computer in the Minnesota Airport... but luckily it will be flying back to me sometime this week via some lovely lovely people in Minnesota. More pictures will be delivered and more music of course. I was going to suprise you all with a little something-something.. but well that got botched. So until it comes back we will have to wait but I will be plastering your screens with a lot of shit when it does happen I've been a mad-woman being crazy productive and loving it.
I woke up Early and strolled around their neighborhood complete with vintage houses all with interesting quirks, cars quietly parked on the sides of the road, I felt like I was walking through the streets of the movie 'Home Alone'. The foliage was sabotaged with the quickness of the winter arriving and left some interesting remains like this :
I walked around and visited the local music store which neglected to have any ukulele's but the store owner seemed pretty helpful and sweet. Checked out a pretty Bakery Window and this small Library down the street which was packed with friendly people and family warmth.
Later in the day we headed out for downtown and I ate some icecream
Everyone else just admired all the Pretty Decorations
It took me awhile to eat all that icecream so they had to kill some time.
We saw ipod vending machines and very expensive shoes, and left the skyway mall place and went out on the street to venture into a very majestic bookstore.
Lunch after that and then we drove to another part of town where we walked around and stopped at a tea shop
Where I enjoyed the most delectable Almond/Jasmine/latte while we collectively drew in the local newspaper and participated in particular topics of conversation.
Ventured to shops after that where we stopped upon an immense music store where they had the most fantastic collection of tapes that I've ever happened upon since the early 90s
Ben and I had been talking about great music from our younger days all day, and he ended up finding this great and simultaneous awful tape complete with all of the songs we had been talking about all day long and then a tape from the Conehead's soundtrack, we sung to them on the ride home.
Later in the night some Cranberry and Vodka's were made and a dance party ensued. The Yogurt Dance was invented
And Skating in the house also
The night ended with plenty of floor dancing and a circle of crazy dancing.
Today will hopefully be participating in a photo-op with Liz and then a show later tonight.
I'm a big fan of Love. But I've had my own personal problems deciphering it from other people. Lately [after my own 'life' crisis a few months ago] I've come to better understand it. I'm reminded of this from 'Gala Darling's' Latest post where she has some steps on improving your love life.
I used to be a HUGE anti-smoker person, regaling smokers to no end about the harm they are doing to themselves and myself, etc. etc. [ I think it stems from the fact I grew up with a father who was a smoker and who promised to quit many-a-times] But I've come to realize that, that even though I don't like it for myself trying to change someone else is probably just going to make them bitter towards me in the end and have a strain on our relationship instead of a bonding experience, if they want to quit themselves I can be there for them and help them along the way and it can be a bonding experience in that manner better.
So I just realized I was making un-needed frustrations between myself and my previous lovers by having all these hang-ups about their lifestyle choices just because they are not ones that I necessarily choose for myself doesn't mean that it's wrong/right it just makes us different and most of the time the differences make things interesting and fun.
Plus I didn't fall in love with the habits I fell in love with the person and those things make up the person right, but so do the opening of doors and the lingering glances from across the room and the way they kiss your forehead and to dissect the person from the things that I like about them to what I don't particularly like about them would just be defeating the purpose of being with someone who isn't just a roboto pre-programmed to say all the right things and be into the exact same things you are into.
I'm not particularly into dating robots.
So it seems I'm re-learning love, in a more compassionate, kind way,[the way I used to hate it.. the couples that looked so quiet and serene in their love for one another where you are unsure if they still make love or not or if things have grown stagnant, I've realized those people have just come to a much more calm realization of how love can work, it doesn't have to be passionate holding hands, next to each other every second of life]. . Love for me before just used to be this explosion of words and bodies pressed up against one another. And as much as I still participate in both of them, I can look at in a more understanding view and assess the situation better and make a logical conclusion to it, such as with the ending of my most recent romance.
I understood that we were different and not in the ways that were going to necessarily compliment each other any longer, at least at this time in our lives. It ended in a ceremony of conversations talking about the good times we had, had during the duration of our relationship, and what we liked about each other and who we pictured the other person with now, closure and well-wishes towards the other person, instead of hatred and bitterness like most relationships lean towards @ the end.
I guess this is growing up.
You should check out Gala's Steps over @ her Blog [ www.galadarling.com ] Maybe it can help you become more enlightened to how you treat your lover
So I left yesterday to travel thousands of miles via Jet-Plane [which now I'm more weary about since it's horrible for global warming..]
I got there and freaked out a bit
I haven't left the state since I moved back from Illinois over a year ago. The plane ride was normal nothing crazy, just a bit long and I couldn't sleep on the plane like I had anticipated doing. On the aeroplane the Pilot kept calling it 'The Twin Cities" never ever calling it Minneapolis or Minnesota, I thought that was strange. So I arrived and as we were leaving the plane they said it was 25degreeees outside, and it was snowing! I was flabbergasted, partially because I was wearing flats and would be freezing and partly because snow on Thanksgiving day I've never seen and it just made it seem even more moviesque.
Javier + Ben Came to pick me up in this crazy-idea of an automobile where Ben drove like a mad man and we listened to of all my loves, tapes in the car and I was shown the major things to see when you drive from the airport to home. Which I hardly remember any of the names but I just remember that there was the idea of a photoshoot at every corner in this town, the details are pretty spectacular.
Arrived @ Home and met the lovliest Liz! and saw my Bryant Boo for the first time in forevers. They were the self-designated cooks of the day and had been doing so for all day.
We played the 'guess that song' game for some time, and Javi played some songs of their own on the guitar as we waited for dinnertime to arrive.
I'm unsure what time we actually ate our Thanksgiving Feast but it was devoured without haste. As you can see the details of the meal in the picture above Liz and Bryant paid extra attention, w/ Heart Cranberry slices and the deviled eggs painstakingly prepared with precision [or so it seemed from my distant view from the living room], I felt as if I were on a television show. I'm used to things being hurried together or already made and then me just arriving and enjoying the meal.
Conversations @ this Thanksgiving table were unlike any I have ever been able to participate in and I loved it. After Dinner watched a few Dvd skits [including Flight of the Conchords] and then I started to pass out and I don't know what everyone else did because I was soo tired by this time I suppose I just blacked-out.
Woke up to this note :
Smiled Profusely and tried to ignore the fact the I had mistakenly woke myself up by leaving my alarm clock from [YESTERDAY!] saved to wake me up today.. I kept hearing this beeping sound and I thought it was like something in their house that would eventually stop..but then it didn't and I woke up and saw it was MY phone.. But I guess it was meant to happen so I could soak in the morning in Minneapolis.
Went to look for a bowl for some cereal and happened upon this sight.
My life up to this point was incomplete and I found the missing piece living in Minneapolis, Liz! I just continue to fall in love with this girl I swear it. Now I just must contemplate how to steal her away from Ben and keep her all to myself. This tea cupboard is just divine, as well as 100% of the other deatails strewn through the house.
Although I don't quite fit in with the decorum of the house, my polka-dotted nighty-pants and extra-large sweater shirt I wear to bed when it's cold don't quite fit in with the lush velvet Furniture and shag-esque white Carpet just begging for a photo-op. They are all things that if I stayed in any one place for longer than a few months or year I would adorn my living space with.
So Day Two! What's in store for today, I really have no idea, But there will have to be some exploring for sure. My impressions of the place so far are pleasant, but i'm still in vacation mode!
Hope you all had a lovely Day yesterday and I'll see you soonish!
[.]Rainbow Colored Hair [.]Distinct Personal Looks, like Amy Winehouse [.]Period Dressers, complete with perfectly coiffed hair [.]Uber Cute Japanese Girls who put hairclips in their hair when they don't need them [.]People who can pull off really short hair, ala Natalie Portman [.]Glasses or Beards, combined = a deadly swoon for me [.]Boots on boys [.]Sweater Vests. [.]The Slick looks of boys in all black with a bright skinny tie to match [.]Annie Hall-esque looks [.]Out of Control Drag Queens, I love obscene wigs and faux eyelashes [.]Girls who wear Faux Eyelashes, especially Twiggy-like [.]Huge hair, think Robert Smith [.]Men in Vintage Sunglasses [.]Tennis Headbands and WristBands, especially if they are Personalized
Let's keep this going..what do you like to look at on people?
Allo My Lovelies! Jemibook here! So if you haven't already received an invite. I am having my very first live performance ever!
It'll be December 15th 2007, 4pm @ Memorial Park in Jacksonville, FL. For more details you can check out the event Post over at Myspace
Right now I'm really excited about it and I've been practicing my set-list that I shall be playing on a daily basis. I have a few things planned for the day, cupcakes and some cd's to give out. I'm going to work on the cd's while I'm doing all this traveling this week.
Which I'm also very excited about. I'm going to Minneapolis on Thursday to visit my grand friends up there and to check out the place, I've been considering moving up there and I'd like to see how things are.. other than freezing my ass off!
Now now now now.. yes! it's Make Music Monday.. so where's the music.. well it's right here ::
It's called 'Cult Following Fortunes" [I noticed they changed the format of the player, it should be the last one on the list I believe] This song.. . well to explain plainly I've been busy and distracted this week, but early in the week I started fiddling around with my Uke and came up with the music part of it and I just knew that, that had to be in the song for this week, no matter what lyrics or whatever I came up to go with it. The Piano part in the beginning is on this little dinky keyboard that I love that I received from my best lady, Anastasia. Now the lyrics. I was struggling with for most of the day, I had a few things bogging me down today when I was trying to think of lyrics and I really didn't want to write a song about that, so after a bit of back and forth I came up with what I did.. which is about meeting someone, clicking and talking about strange things, and being inseparable for what seems like forever, and simultaneously not, and thinking how did you get into this, but letting yourself fall into it anyways.
Sometimes when I'm writing these explanations I wonder what other people think the song is about, or what they take from it.
Also ended up going to a show last night. To see a band I never thought that I would be able to see.
They were spectacular, the crowd was really into it, and it was a really big turn out for Jacksonville I was suprised. I had listened to them when i was still living in orlando back in 2003. and 5 years later I get to see them in Jacksonville what are the odds?
also the first band was also pretty interesting
[BioWulf]
[ I couldn't find a link for their music online, sadly] The name was a bit strange because of the movie that just came out. But they had really great costumes, and a lot of energy, and I liked the way he sang some parts of the songs made me wish I had a band to sing with so I could have more options like that.
Info : "The book presents 77 essential skills for stopping climate change--and for living through it. It is a fun, compelling, and sly deconstruction of a survival guide (think Boy Scouts of America crossed with WorldChanging atop the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook) that offers equal parts tongue-in-cheek suggestions, practical advice, factual information, and bluesky dreaming of ways to save the world."
My Why: i must admit the cover was eye-catching but after seeing documentaries on Global Warming and noticing it locally in Florida I definitely want to be part of the population who participates in minimizing the threat of Global Warming, and I'm hoping this book will teach me some tricks that I don't know.
Info: "or nine years, New York Times bestselling author Joshua Piven has been tracking down and interviewing alligator wrestlers, race car drivers, giant octopus hunters, animal trackers, and treasure hunters. What drives these escape artists to make job choices that are extraordinary, dangerous, or just plain wacky? They don't “drop out”; they embrace self-fulfillment and personal freedom as they craft a life on the road less traveled-and show all of us how to pursue our own dreams…if we dare."
My Why : I have plenty of obsessions and I'd love to be able to turn one of them into my career, for instance, making music, if not making my own doing something fun in the industry would be amazing, i'm hoping to get some insight into some other strange jobs Popular Music of the 20's : Ronald Pearsall
Info : "The 1920s's was an exciting time for popular music. The pioneer days of the gramophone were over and electrical recording precipitated the age of hi-fi. The talking, singing picture arrived, and the most important, the 1920's saw the introduction of the radio. To start with, radio was just a fad. The wireless was expensive and reception poor, but it soon proved to be the most epoch-making invention of the age."
My Why : I la-la-love! the 1920's. I'm super fascinated in it, and this book was just in the area of books that I was happening upon and I snapped it up, it also some some great photographs in it also, wish I had a scanner to show you.
Info: " Songwriter’s Market lifts the veil around the music industry to teach aspiring songwriters about the inner workings of the business. In addition to the market listings, there’s nearly 100 pages filled with articles and interviews that shed light on every corner of the music world. Readers will learn from working songwriters, film composers, producers and even record executives."
My Why: I know absolutely nothing about promoting myself in the music business, I don't know how to get a show booked or what people to talk to, to do anything to get my things recorded, or produced, anything. So I'm hoping this book will give me some insights into things that I am interested in being knowledgeable on before I have to deal with them.
Longest Blog Entry ever I swear, but It's been a week since I last updated and I felt it was overdue!
Hope you all have a great week and if I don't see you before next week have a great Turkey Day!
So you are in Luck this fine Monday. I'm serving up a double dose of Jemibookness. Two songs this week. One song was planned, one song was a stir of the emotions.
This song was in response to certain conversations I've had with people throughout my life. Some people get so caught up in all the bad things in the world that they end up seeing everything with a bitter-taste. Everyone has to have a hidden agenda and every place is corrupt. I personally don't live like that, I acknowledge and know there are plenty of awful things going on throughout the world on a constant basis but I'd rather, instead of playing more attention to it, start my own brand of joy and happiness that could possibly help someone who may choose to send bad vibes somewhere send good vibes instead. I'd like the influences I give out and conversations that I have be about seeing the silver-lining in things instead of the bad. Call me an optimist.
This song, on the other hand, is a sappy-sappy-song about Love. Love that you screw up on royally and you wish if they just gave you another chance you'd happily spend the rest of your life making it up to them.
I swear I could write a million songs about my personal relationships, but I'd hate to feel that most of them were sad songs. I think that's just because I've always turned to a good-sad song everytime I'm feeling low about a relatinship and so I relate to them more towards love than happy songs, depressing I know. But I'm trying to change that.. I think I did well with my last song [Elope] so we're on some sort of track I believe.
Yesterday I Celebrated Icing Day [ invented by the amazing Gala Darling ].
Icing Day this time around was I <3 . . .
So I celebrated the day with things that I <3 of course. Like Dressing Up, My Ukulele, The Beatles, Good Friends, Music, Dancing, Hot Tea, Street Performing, The Autumn Weather, Lovely Parks, Driving while Blasting the Spice Girls, Fake Hair, Extravagant Outfits and makeup, Great Shopping Deals, and meeting new people.
I started The Day off by Putting on some Beatles and Arranging my outfit/hair and makeup to make me appear as some sort of Panda for my Photoshoot later in the day.
Then The Uke and I headed off to M.A.C. in the mall to pick up some make-up essentials and the lovely Makeup Artist Jeanne hooked me up and redid my whole face with all M.A.C. products I love how it turned out.
After that I did a little shopping and found that Hot Topic was having an amazing Sale, and I managed to pick up this Deery Lou Purse that I had been coveting since I knew it existed for only $6 !! It's the perfect size and I've been wanting a translucent Purse so that I could find things easily and tape my to-do lists to the inside of it.
After that I headed off to the Library where I had a mini Photoshoot and picked up a few books. Walked around downtown and saw an amazing Window Display, and took a few shots and did a little bit of street performing.
Off to my favorite Park [ Memorial Park in Jacksonville ] where I snapped a few photos and basked in the beautiful day.
The Uke and I picked up some Hot Green Tea from Starbucks after that and relaxed on a bench and played a full set of my music for anyone who passed by the intersection.
Home after that where Cara came over and I changed and we were going to go to the Beach but randomly decided to go and get pierced together and it was amazing and super fun. She got her nose pierced and I got my septum pierced. Which I was really happy about because I had been wanting to get it done for a few months now after someone told me that they thought it would look good on moi.
After that it was a quick stop to home and then off to the Eclipse which was Cara's first time going for the 'Factory' aka 'Goth' night they have on Saturday nights. But it also was the After Party for this thing called Tallyrand Festival that they had earlier in the day, so outside they were playing some indie-like music and inside was Industrial music so I was loving it. I got down so much saw some old friends, met some new friends and had a blast.
We left sometime around 3am and I headed off home and fell asleep in my warm little bed and had the best Icing Day ever!
I have some video footage from the day, that I will maybe put up tomorrow for Make Music Monday.
Hope you all had a great Icing Day.
Much Love, Jemibook
This week has been amazing for me. Well the past month has been pretty great I must say. I've been inspired over and over again by people whom I've grown to love, and people whom I'm just getting to know. I'm loving and basking in it.
Here are some of the things that have been making me smile constantly.
Liz - whom I will be seeing in Less than Two weeks has been inspiring me with her lovely face and hospitality. I see endless possibilities of girly nights and creative food endeavors with this gal, and can't wait to meet her and start splashing the world with color.
1984 - A band which includes lovely friends of mine is among one of my bigger musical inspirations. I'm in awe of Javier's talents and bask in what they have put together for our listening pleasure.
Well Dressed Ladies like Piksi. She is always impeccably dressed and the pieces she has in her arsenol are drool worthy like this combination above I would die for a skirt like that. And it also helps that I'm having a love affair with Mustard Yellow right now.
Pink or Rainbow Colored hair. Makes me want to go and buy a black bob wig and dye my hair some unnatural lime green or something equally as cruel.
Inspirational Blogs such as Zen Habits, this in particular from one of his newest posts inspired me :
"4. Plan your perfect life. What would your life be like if you had no restrictions? I’m not talking about living in a McMansion or flying around in jet planes, but what would make you happy. A good step: pick the 4-5 most important things in your life, and build your perfect life around those things, eliminating most of the rest if possible. Plan that perfect life, and then plan the first few steps you need to take to get there. Now schedule those first steps over the next week, including one today. It feels amazing to start taking action on making your life the way you want it to be."
I try to read his blog every morning and it usually helps me start off the day much more productive and happier.
Running - After saying that I wanted to exercise and such for almost the entire year this week I actually stopped saying that I would and started doing it. Running has been incredible especially with the Autumn weather running rampant around Jacksonville, It's nice to soak in the environment through my opened pores and lungs.
Dan in Real Life- I was able to see it last night and LOVED it.. it may be a little obvious chick-flick/family film and maybe it was just what I needed/wanted to see lately but I loved it. Some of the scenes in it were dead-on to things that have happened in my life and I found myself [ one of 3 people in the theater] laughing a lot Steve carrel really is fantastic. Movies always inspire me in one way or another this was one of those movies that reminded me of that feeling of when you meet someone new and things just CLICK and everything just comes so naturally and so enthusiastically, sometimes we forget things like that about meeting new people and it's a great experience to always remember and anticipate again.
Moleskin - The Mini Watercolor Moleskin I ordered with my GiftCard came in today and has filled me with such happiness for it's miniature pages. I've already developed an idea of a small story that I'm planning on doing, I've been working out character sketches in my notebook but it's a bit of a secret surprise for some special people in my life so I can't share it right now. But soon enough.
So I'm just going to post on top of this post. Today, [Tuesday] horrible I know. I re-did the song onto two tracks, and actually messed around a bit more and added some extra specials into the song.. it makes me laugh and smile so I think I did a good job with the extra parts. Here it is for your listening pleasure.
I think the extra special part kind of makes it sound a bit like a Magnetic Fields song, although I have a love/hate relationship with their music.
I can't wait till the day where I can actually get my things professionally recorded. I wonder what it will sound like. My ex roommate-Daniel told me that my recordings don't capture my voice very well and that he likes listening to me live much better. So I wonder if other people feel that way also about my music.
Also a strange conversation happened to me last night, I was singing while I was working and one of my co-workers asked the color of my boyfriend.. . and at first I was kind of taken-aback because I couldn't see the connection. . and then she said that she only asked because I was singing a lot of 'black' songs and I had to laugh. Mostly because [1] it's pretty ridiculous the amount of racial comments that come out of the people that I work with and [2] because i never considered what I listened to, to come with a color I just grew up with the base of these songs and then expanded upon them when I came upon other similarly sounding music that let me get down or sing my tears out. I must admit that the likes of Otis Redding / Marvin Gaye / or Barry White at any given time can help me do either of those things. I am extremely appreciative to have been introduced to them at a point in my life.
Strange. Oh well. Hope you have a great day.
Much Love, Jemibook
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I'm late! I'm late! for a very important date! Well.. today was crazy, plus i stayed on the phone talking too long and I haven't been able to do a proper separate track recording of this new song for this week's Make Music Monday but I promise to do it tomorrow, if you'll forgive me. but here is this week's Song.
The Beginning of this song came to me early last week while I was listening to a slew of music on my ipod while I worked. That and the fact that I was reading a book on 1920's Flappers probably helped a bit. It's not about anyone in my life sadly. More of what I hope one day for my future, that I'll be sitting somewhere away from my lover and realize that I want to share every possible beautiful moment of life with them, loving them regardless of any little thing that would have bothered me in past relationships. Plus I think eloping is one of the most romantic things a couple can do together to cement their relationship. Or maybe Weddings just make me nervous.
Either way. I promise to edit this post tomorrow with more good Make Music Monday stuff and a better recording. or at least the best I can do through the mini hole in my Ibook's Screen, but who's complaining. :p
This weekend was highly productive. I found myself writing out lists, and for once actually following them. Saturday I found myself @ the Library and checked out a few new books :
Painting Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolors : Claudia Nice I'm aware that there are techniques to watercoloring [ my current favorite medium for adding color to my drawings] but I have yet to procure the knowledge of them, Hoping this book will give me a bit on insight, and checking on Amazon a lot of people have found it helpful.
The Little Prince : Antoine de Saint Exupery Now this book I've never read, and it was given to me last night [Saturday] from my friend Sean who declared it either [a] one of his favorite books of all time or [b] his favorite book ever. Either way any statement of those proportions you must read the book. I had seen it before from my best friend's Obession with it when she was traveling she even bought it from each Country she visited this past summer.
Also, as I've said multiple times I moved a week ago, and sadly the place was occupied by a smoker before moi so all of my things have been doused in the repugnant fragrance. This weekend I decided to put my efforts forth to put a stop to it. I bought Febreeze for the Carpets / Pinesol to hand-wash the wood paneling / Candles to hopefully spread a new scent around, and I even handmade some satchels to put in my clothing drawers and closets.
[1] Cut the Fabric into Large Squares [2] Cut the String at least 12inches more is always better [3] Pour a decent amount of Potpourri into the middle of the Fabric [4] Pull the Fabric Together into the middle and twist a bit [5] Use the String to Tie it closed, you can do it in a bow or all around it.
Tada! you have instant Satchels for less than $5 depending on the quality of your Supplies. I threw them in my clothings drawers but you could put them in your shoes, or under your car seats, maybe in your big warm jacket to walk around with a nice autumn smell.
Well I hope you all had a lovely week/weekend and I can't wait to see you all on Monday for Make Music Monday.
This week has been out of control for me. As I sit here typing away in the library on a Saturday Afternoon in Jacksonville, I listen as a man snores a few book-aisle's away, and ponder the events leading up to this moment of the week.
This week's 'Make-Music-Monday' started out productive as usual, but the days hurried by without time for rest. Monday - Wednesday it was work, work work. Wednesday Night [sometime after 11pm] I headed out for an evening of Halloween Fun as I dressed as Amy Winehouse
Thursday I ran errands and drove down to Palm Coast, to meet at my adopted families house and meet up with my woman, Anastasia.
The meeting was on sad terms, and Friday we attended the funeral of David Cohen, which was a very beautiful ceremony but it was horrible to see Larissa a mess like she was.
Being there and staying the night there put a bit of a spin on how I've been living my life now, that house always leaves me feeling better/healthier about myself, the natural foods and recipes that flow from that family is probably something that I always wanted in my family-life and thus I was always there, that and I considered Anastasia my kindred spirit for the entire 7 years we've known one another.
I returned home with a renewed sense of Body-consciousness and promptly bought some grapes to help fill the void of natural foods in my life, and reclaimed my original thought about taking up running 3 times a week so I can retain some sort of an exercise regimen and not just rely on my metabolism to stabilize my weight for the rest of my days.
I'm still a bit burnt out on the past week and know that I'm in need of some serious downtime to get used to my new place and such, but I'm trying to manage it all as it comes and hopefully not break apart soon.
Musically it's been a great week, I randomly had two songs come to me while working this week and am excited to present them in the weeks to come.
Liz - whom I will be seeing in Less than Two weeks has been inspiring me with her lovely face and hospitality. I see endless possibilities of girly nights and creative food endeavors with this gal, and can't wait to meet her and start splashing the world with color.
