before i get pulled back into my day...

this is me tiptoeing into this entry. trying not to wake my daughter, disturb my mother or make my son aware of the fact that i am actually taking a moment to myself. got no time for fancy coloring and fonts (save the title) or cool linkage so bear with me. i'm just happy to be here.

Allahu-Akbar... God is SO good! so many amazing things going on in my life and in the world, how am i supposed to keep up? i mean, not like i won the lottery (which i don't play anyway) or got nominated for an academy award (at least not yet) or anything. but i feel very present and i am enjoying the highs and lows of living and it is just a blessing. i can't believe it's only been a month--feels like a year--since we were last here. let's see, an update... where do i start?

*inhale* (here we go...)

my time with austin project officially ended (wiping tears from my cheeks)... i wrote 14 poems in the month of april for gibbous moon's "poem-a-day" challenge (a triumph considering that's more than i've written in the last year, give or take)... went to an AMAZING spa party (thank you krissy, camille, wura, analise et al for the serious love and care)... my son scored several touchdowns before their last loss (who cares... they all got the same trophy anyway)... my daughter did her first cheerleading dance in a halftime show (too cute!)... i did a reading at bookwoman... submitted 6 (yes, count 'em 6) screenplays to screenwriting contests... saw anna devere smith at zach scott (inspired!)... mourned one contest rejection so far... submitted a grant proposal... lost 4 pounds... cut my hair down and let it grow back to a twistable fro... accepted a position as co-producer on a film (more on that later)... had a live reading for that screenplay... designed my own fabulous website... gained 4 pounds... saw the roots (slow-heat-exausted-yawn...) and anthony hamilton (yay!) in concert... saw the movie water (a MUST see!)... and saw the oldest of my two younger brothers who was in Houston on business... and not necessarily in that order.

*exhale*

phew! funny thing is, as you can see i have had a million and one blog ideas, just never the time to write them all down. i also started a myspace account (groovenbuttafly, of course) which i have even less time to maintain. but everyone else was doing it and... i can be such a follower sometimes. call it the second-child syndrome.

i'm headed to cali shortly for a bit of bliss with sweetiebubu. i'm actually going to attend the vona voices master suite workshop at the university of san francisco, called The Writer-of-Color and Political Responsibility, with walter mosley and elmaz abinader. how great is that? after that, my prayer is that in july, i'll take the kids to san antonio for a weekend so they'll have something to write about that first week of school. (not that camp and the unforgiving-100-degree heat aren't subject enough.) i also hope to make it to the american black film festival (www.abff.com) in miami. but we'll see. summer is so short. so many things to do, so little time and moolah.

uh-oh...

time to bid you adieu. it is saturday and the fact that i have managed any time on the computer is worthy of documenting. my son scoots nearer and nearer, half-playing with a headless bionicle, halfway vying for my attention. my daughter is slowly stretching out of sleep, out from a fetal position on top of my good pillow like a long, lethargic kitten; the braids she begged for spread in all directions above her head like subway train tracks from a main station. i am typing as quickly as my pecking fingers will allow. like getting a last kiss in before your parents come home.

so my beautilicious friends, i want to say i am "back," but i guess we'll see won't we? thank you tasha for the word "parallax." that's my next blog. stay tuned y'all...

GRATEFUL for this moment...

besos y abrazos... (fa evah, evah...)
shia SHABAZZ