40 by 40 Kick off:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
so today is my 39th birthday and for the first time in my history of birthdays, i am feeling NO anxiety about it. i didn't NEED the hoopla and parades i'd required in previous years. no anxiety about turning a year older (cuz 39 is the new 29). but about feeling unrecognized, unloved and insignificant. mine is the third in a string of sibling birthdays (9/29, 9/30... 10/01). and not that anyone or anything intentionally made me feel that way. mostly i attribute it to birth order (middle child sh*t) and the reality that by the time my actual birthday came around, i had already shared a cake, gotten a gift or had a party on a day other than mine. all of that said, today, all of the scary energy around my birth/day has been squelched. Allahu Akbar!
ONWARD AND UPWARD...
recovering from a night of seafood and salsa lessons/dancing in DC (perfection!), today i woke up 39. my husband brought me my signature bowl of corn flakes, in bed, to tide me over until the eggs and grits brunch he worked up as i chomped down.
i have since tended to amir's needs (kisses, bathing, feeding, diaper changing), eaten brunch and a late afternoon homemade-chicken-salad-sandwich snack, showered, dressed and worked out a "culpa" issues in my latest screenplay. and i still feel wonderful... which in my mind means i am closer to MIND-body-SPIRIT fabulousness than i've ever been.
so... i have become obsessed with the number 40. i've also become obsessed with lists. since here begins the countdown to the big 4-0, and to increase the odds of fabulosity, i am crafting my list of 40 things i hope to achieve before i turn 40 ("40 by 40"). everything from getting fit by 40 to 40 ways to change the world. (anyone who's ever called my cell to leave a message knows i'm on a mission.)
some things on my list:
write 40 poems by 40 (poetry month will help but... well... you know how it is...)
lose 20 pounds in 40 weeks (yes, i still have 20 uninvited pounds)
write 40 "love" letters and mail them to 40 friends
give 40 pampering gestures to myself
doing 40 crunches a day (may not sound like much but by 10/01/10, it may help turn this 2 liter into a 6 pack)
fugure 40 ways to show gratitude to people I love
and much, much more...
wish me luck. offer me tips. please drop in for support. i'll need it.
abrazos y besos...
shia
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
i need a poetry prompt.
anybody? anybody?
abrazos y besos...
shia
Monday, January 26, 2009
i NEED to blog!
i NEED words. i need this moment like i need community. and for now, this coffee shop full of regulars is what i've got. the friends i clamored to call upon arrival are still too busy with their lives to make a moment. and i think they fail to realize how much i need connection right now. so, i'm here. again. finally.
it’s been a long while since i’ve written anything worth calling a poem or even worth reading (not that this is, but you know what i mean). so this is a cry for help, by beautiful people of bloggerland. i know life has been happening to everyone but lemme give you the quick and dirty:
first week of september, we returned home from EXCELLENT summer in oakland… boy! this jetlag is kicking my butt. i can’t seem to get outta bed… what? it’s not jetlag? IT’S A BABY? forget the wedding plans for May 22, 2009, let’s get hitched on the cruise... happybirthdaytomeOctober1st… birthday BluesCruise to Mexico… first day on cruise, miscarriage... first day back, doctor tells me there's still a baby there! WOW! on with the plan... THAT AFTERNOON, got married in a beautiful but brief ceremony at the county courthouse on October 13th with new sis-in-law jumping and clapping with joy… looked for job, looked for job, looked for job in Austin… NO JOB… baby’s growing… moved December 20th… HAPPY NEW YEAR… It’s A Boy! January 12th… we remember/will never forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, January 19th… O-BA-MA… O-BA-MA!!! January 20th … TODAY, we get cable!!! Now, if we can find a good, low-cost internet service, it’ll be all good.
for those who aren’t into the long read, you can bail here but i would be grateful for a writing prompt and any suggestions for artist communities in oakland. (where my peoples at?) for those interested in the details…
THE MOVE:
in december, i officially crammed my car with my most valuables (my children, my sweetiebubu, my kitchenaide mixer, my dvds and an array of other necessaries) and made the move back home to oakland. damn it’s good to be home. even further, i moved here post nuptials… yes, i’s married now! (i’ve recently become a “facebooker” so for those of you who’ve connected with me there, you already knew that… oh, and that i’m expecting. (yes, a baby!) to my only daughter’s chagrin, a baby boy to be exact. and for those of you who’ve been stopping here over the past few years, you’ll remember at least hearing of my beau, “sweetiebubu”… eh-hem… ronnie. q, my new-awesome-stepson, and my sweeties are really excited about their new brother. but the reality of my not having a job and, therefore, not being able to afford life in texas with my children, but away from my husband, was a sobering one.
hmmm… the upside of it all is that bliss lies underneath the work that is marriage and the tasks we are undergoing to create a home and space for baby smith in ronnie’s digs. the downside, as determined by the ultra conservative williamson county, texas, is that my sweeties must stay in texas unless/until their dad and i can agree to allow them to move with me. and you know how agreements with exes go. so, until texas, i mean hell freezes over… i mean, until we can agree, they live there for school and here, in oakland, on the off times. right now it’s working out. they are happy, healthy, and adjusting well. THAT is what matters.
THE MARRIAGE:
needless to say people are still mad at us. everyone thinks we had some big or secret ceremony and left them out. not the case, folks. we were amid a sea of tough decisions and it just came down to a spur of the moment agreement that we’d invite our loved ones to our one-year anniversary celebration. then we can do all the celebratin’ at one time. our baby. our new life together. the long-awaited consummation of our love. stay tuned.
first week of september, we returned home from EXCELLENT summer in oakland… boy! this jetlag is kicking my butt. i can’t seem to get outta bed… what? it’s not jetlag? IT’S A BABY? forget the wedding plans for May 22, 2009, let’s get hitched on the cruise... happybirthdaytomeOctober1st… birthday BluesCruise to Mexico… first day on cruise, miscarriage... first day back, doctor tells me there's still a baby there! WOW! on with the plan... THAT AFTERNOON, got married in a beautiful but brief ceremony at the county courthouse on October 13th with new sis-in-law jumping and clapping with joy… looked for job, looked for job, looked for job in Austin… NO JOB… baby’s growing… moved December 20th… HAPPY NEW YEAR… It’s A Boy! January 12th… we remember/will never forget Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, January 19th… O-BA-MA… O-BA-MA!!! January 20th … TODAY, we get cable!!! Now, if we can find a good, low-cost internet service, it’ll be all good.
for those who aren’t into the long read, you can bail here but i would be grateful for a writing prompt and any suggestions for artist communities in oakland. (where my peoples at?) for those interested in the details…
THE MOVE:
in december, i officially crammed my car with my most valuables (my children, my sweetiebubu, my kitchenaide mixer, my dvds and an array of other necessaries) and made the move back home to oakland. damn it’s good to be home. even further, i moved here post nuptials… yes, i’s married now! (i’ve recently become a “facebooker” so for those of you who’ve connected with me there, you already knew that… oh, and that i’m expecting. (yes, a baby!) to my only daughter’s chagrin, a baby boy to be exact. and for those of you who’ve been stopping here over the past few years, you’ll remember at least hearing of my beau, “sweetiebubu”… eh-hem… ronnie. q, my new-awesome-stepson, and my sweeties are really excited about their new brother. but the reality of my not having a job and, therefore, not being able to afford life in texas with my children, but away from my husband, was a sobering one.
hmmm… the upside of it all is that bliss lies underneath the work that is marriage and the tasks we are undergoing to create a home and space for baby smith in ronnie’s digs. the downside, as determined by the ultra conservative williamson county, texas, is that my sweeties must stay in texas unless/until their dad and i can agree to allow them to move with me. and you know how agreements with exes go. so, until texas, i mean hell freezes over… i mean, until we can agree, they live there for school and here, in oakland, on the off times. right now it’s working out. they are happy, healthy, and adjusting well. THAT is what matters.
THE MARRIAGE:
needless to say people are still mad at us. everyone thinks we had some big or secret ceremony and left them out. not the case, folks. we were amid a sea of tough decisions and it just came down to a spur of the moment agreement that we’d invite our loved ones to our one-year anniversary celebration. then we can do all the celebratin’ at one time. our baby. our new life together. the long-awaited consummation of our love. stay tuned.
THE BABY:
the sonogram technician said there was no doubt what he was cuz he kept flashing all of his business. i’ve been talking to him since about keeping his parts private, lil exhibitionist! he’s stirring and kicking lots these days. ahhh… motherhood. we are dancing in the joy of names right now. life is amazing and to try to name it seems impossible. we'll see what he inspires...
okay, i’m officially tired and not flowing well anymore. so i’ll end here. i will say though that, while i love seeing my family and being my husband’s groupie from gig to gig, i am in search of community here. i haven’t written a complete poem in months and the screenplay i was excited to be working on is stifled by research. so anyone reading this, consider this a call for your suggestions/advice/help/guidance/WHATEVER. Where are the good artist communities in Oakland/the Bay? And don’t forget, if you have a writing prompt for me, PLEASE help a sista out.
baby’s kicking and my head is hurting which means time to eat. til next time beautiful people…
**mwah**
shia
the sonogram technician said there was no doubt what he was cuz he kept flashing all of his business. i’ve been talking to him since about keeping his parts private, lil exhibitionist! he’s stirring and kicking lots these days. ahhh… motherhood. we are dancing in the joy of names right now. life is amazing and to try to name it seems impossible. we'll see what he inspires...
okay, i’m officially tired and not flowing well anymore. so i’ll end here. i will say though that, while i love seeing my family and being my husband’s groupie from gig to gig, i am in search of community here. i haven’t written a complete poem in months and the screenplay i was excited to be working on is stifled by research. so anyone reading this, consider this a call for your suggestions/advice/help/guidance/WHATEVER. Where are the good artist communities in Oakland/the Bay? And don’t forget, if you have a writing prompt for me, PLEASE help a sista out.
baby’s kicking and my head is hurting which means time to eat. til next time beautiful people…
**mwah**
shia
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