Monday, July 3, 2006

I’m in my own bedroom at TDJ’s apartment. My own little slice of Heaven. I’m sleeping on an air mattress on the floor in what is technically TDJ’s office/recording studio but who cares. I have my own bathroom and I can sleep as late as I like. TDJ usually sleeps until two o’clock in the afternoon, so I’m up well before he is. I have my own set of keys to the apartment, so I can come and go as I please. And since he has two spaces in the garage downstairs, I don’t have to look for parking on the street when I come home at night.

“I only have one house rule,” he said when we’d brought my bags in on Friday. “Uh oh,” I thought, “here it comes.”

He was acting so serious and I thought that he was going to make some kind of unreasonable demand. “The only thing I ask,” he said, “is that you make my home your home. Whatever’s in the kitchen to eat, you’re welcome to it. Feel free to forage in the cabinets. I’m not saving anything for any special occasion.” Then he gave me a tour of the apartment; showed me where he kept the extra toilet tissue, how to work the remote for the television, and showed me to my room, where he'd made the bed up to look so comfy and inviting and placed fresh towels and soap in the bathroom connected to it. For the first time since arriving on the west coast, I exhaled and completely relaxed.

Some people say they don’t expect anything of you when they offer their home to you but then they get all bent out of shape if you don’t want to spend every minute of your time hanging out with them. TDJ is not like that at all. I don’t even know what he does with his time. We’re like two ships passing in the night. When I was staying with NAP I felt like she needed so much help with the kids that I didn’t feel right just hanging out and doing my own thing. Plus, I didn’t want to come tipping in at three o’clock in the morning knowing that I might wake up the kids or wake up the dog who would then wake up the kids. So I didn’t really go out and check out bands and things at night like I wanted to. Plus I knew that if I stayed up late, I would really regret it in the morning when NAP’s husband left for work at six o’clock and the dog woke up and then the kids woke up.

I went out this weekend with my new friend ABG to see a band perform at The Mint. Then Sunday I went to Santa Monica and had dinner with my new MySpace friend, MPM. Her sister was in town for the weekend and she and a few of her friends and I went to a Chinese restaurant in Santa Monica. Then MPM, her sister and I went to MPM’s apartment (the first high rise I’ve been in since being here) where they both played some beautiful classical pieces on MPM’s full sized piano that takes up most of her living room. At first MPM asked me to play something for them on the piano. After listening to the two of them play, I was so glad I’d declined. I mean I can play well enough to get my songs recorded but a concert pianist I am not. MPM came to America on a music scholarship. After listening to her play, I was truly honored that she said she wanted to jam with me sometime.

We had some tea and then we went to an amusement park right there on the beach. I’m not one for roller coaster rides and fortunately neither are they, so we went on the Ferris Wheel, which was a lot of fun. After, we went inside the arcade and played a few games. Then I headed home, took a nice hot shower and climbed into bed and slept until nearly noon today, another thing I’ve not done since arriving on the west coast.

I thought I would have been involved in the filming of the series that SCH said she wanted to use me for but when I spoke with her the other day she said the filming had been postponed because she had to finish work on a documentary she was working on.

Oh well, I guess that’s show business. It's not a done deal until the check clears.

More soon...

© Daughter of the Sun. Reprint by permission only.

June 30, 2006 - I think I’ve worn out my welcome with NAP. Fortunately, I spoke with TDJ yesterday and his other houseguests have departed, which means that starting today I can stay in his extra bedroom. He’s my only friend in California that I haven’t met through MySpace. More...

June 24, 2006 - So I’m in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams and make believe. I’m staying with a wonderful family, thanks again to MySpace. NAP is a singer, a wife and the mother of two absolutely adorable (and exhaustingly rambunctious) children. More...

June 8, 2006 - I am loving life right about now. I’m in Northern California in a little town near Sausalito with a population of about 200. I posted an ad on Craigs List saying I was willing to exchange administrative services for room and board and, lo and behold, I got two responses the very next day. More...

May 8, 2006 - I am loving life right about now. I’m in Northern California in a little town near Sausalito with a population of about 200. I posted an ad on Craigs List saying I was willing to exchange administrative services for room and board and, lo and behold, I got two responses the very next day. More...

May 3, 2006 - I just got in from playing in the subway station. I like the F line at the 23rd Street station... More...

April 24, 2006 - I found a numerology site and, according to their calculations, I’m at the end of a cycle. I‘ve past the harvest and I’m about to lay down new seeds I guess to prepare for the coming Winter. More...

April 10, 2006 - I’ve been spending a lot of time online, working on my MySpace page, making new friends through MySpace as well. By the time I get to California, I’ll already know lots of folks there. More...

April 2, 2006 - I can’t believe it’s April already. The year is nearly half done, although some more optimistic than I am at this moment in my life would say the year’s barely begun. It just seems that time is marching along faster and faster each year. More...

March 23, 2006 - Not much new to report. Still laid up with my broken toe. More...

March 16, 2006 - What a week it’s been! A broken toe, post-Philly drama, TTT came into town, west coast tour in the works, April concert to plan, new band. More...

March 10, 2006 - It was a pretty smooth drive with almost no traffic even though we left the city at 5 o’clock. We reached Philadelphia at about 8 o’clock. It reminds me of a lot of other small towns I’ve been in, like Troy and Albany. More...

March 8, 2006 - This evening I’m off to New Rochelle to perform at a Habitat for Humanity fundraising event. I’m taking CDs, which I will autograph and sell and donate half the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity. They’re going to New Orleans to rebuild some of the homes that were destroyed by Katrina. More...

March 2, 2006 - I am so over the cold and ready for the Spring. It’s hard to believe it’s right around the corner. The groundhog saw his shadow last month, which supposedly means Winter is hanging around a bit longer but I remain ever hopeful. More...

February 25, 2006 - Another late night… What else is new? I performed at Bellizzi’s tonight. Two sets. I ran through my entire arsenal of songs and even threw in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s song, “True Colors.” I don’t really like doing covers but the woman who hired me for the night asked me to and you have to give the people what they want, especially when they're paying. More...

February 19, 2006 - Another all nighter… My plan was to get into bed by midnight at the latest but I wound up staying up and setting up my page on MySpace. It turns out there’s another artist with my name (Setra) who’s already on MySpace so I couldn’t use my own name. I had to sign up using Daughter of the Sun instead. It took a while to upload the music and the photos, once I figured out how to do it. More...

February 16, 2006 - Hurray! The snow is almost gone! Just the way I like the snow. A lot of it comes down, it stays for a few days and then it melts and is gone; and not a moment too soon. I ate the last of the food today, which means I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I haven't weighed myself but I have a feeling I've gained at least a couple of pounds. More...

Snow - I have about five days’ worth of food, and I’m prepared to hibernate until the snow melts. My car is parked across the street but I don’t know which mound it’s under. It was kind of nice being home alone and doing whatever I wanted to without having to answer to anybody or even speak to another person. I turned off the ringer on the phone and just spent some time with myself. More...

Guero's - I just got in from Guero’s. What a night. First off, it turns out they didn’t have a PA system, an amp, a microphone or microphone stand so I had to pack up all that stuff and take it with me. I lugged it all a block and a half to where I’d parked my car Monday evening and when I got to the parking spot where I’d left my car, my car was nowhere to be found. More...

MTV Comes - The MTV folks came and went Monday. It was all quite fun. I was up and dressed by the time they arrived at 9:00 AM. “We have to film the entire day,” they said and they made me put my pajamas back on and get back into bed. Then they filmed me getting out of bed, going into the kitchen and having my first glass of water for the day. More...

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