better late than never

okay okay i know i'm over due again
if this were a class i'd be earning a F--------
then again if this were a class i'd be updating this everyday since
*ahem* i'm quite the nerd/ goody two shoes/ workaholic/ suck up.
yeah that's right i am and i'm not ashamed to admit it.

anyway
life has been good to this little girl lately minus being sicker than sick for a week and minus 2 very important people in my life being sick for a week and minus a few other bumps and bruises that are mostly unavoidable and generally beautifully attributed to LIVING and LOVING. i can't really complain.

so, if you didnt already know, there's something pretty cool & important you should check out:
http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200903/20017763.html

it's a movement and you are a mover.

if you've got the time you should download the animation and watch it- it's the softest version of the issue i've ever seen but hopefully it's just as effective.

i've got a bigger blog on the issue coming soon, but until then, that's the homework i'm leaving you with (:

missing you all
loving immensely

xoxoxoxoxo


ps you can tweet me now... i'm on a mission to find twitter worthy of my time and effort- we'll see how that goes.

www.twitter.com/starryeyedsoul

this was written on March 6th, 2009 @ 4:22am

If I could tivo anything, I’d tivo my dreams…
I have the most insanely wickedly vivid dreams most nights
The kind where I wake up unsure of what world I’ve been living, breathing, and loving in
Or sometimes, fighting for my life...
Speaking languages I don’t remember ever hearing

for the record, I’d just like to say it is entirely possible to be optimistic without being naïve

i’m not sure most artists/ singers/ bands realize how truly lucky they are to be such big witnesses to one of the greatest miracles of human life- they are smiled upon daily and often by massive groups of people at once…. Can you imagine THOUSANDS of people smiling at you at once?!
In an interview once they asked me my favorite part of the job- without a doubt, my number 1 favorite aspect of this life i've chosen is being smiled at. What a beautiful feeling. Second favorite thing to do with my lips.

I decided sometime in my preteen years that I will someday find a way to make the entire world smile at once- not so much in the same exact minute but maybe due to the same exact cause? It’s a slow progressing project… but I’ve had a pretty good start so far… I’ll keep you posted.

tonight was hands down (this is the best day I can ever remember, i'll always remember… sorry a little dashboard confessional came to mind…) anyway, hands down one of the top 3 shows I have EVER been to and I may be only 23 but I have been to MANY MANY shows in MANY countries and heard MANY different types of music… but tonight…. My soul was ablaze. If you havent already seen Mr Jason Mraz LIVE and in the sweet flesh, vocals, hat, exuberant gestures and all... i HIGHLY recommend you find out when he's playing in your city and GO. You can thank me later.

Lately everything in my life feels enhanced… as if I’m extra sensitive to EVERY sensation, emotion, thought, the oddest little things… as If I’m going through some intense lunar cycle and the universe is trying to tap into my soul and feed me through every pore and strand of hair, eye lash, toe nail… it’s made so very aware that I am ALIVE and I am kicking.

I recently finished reading “things I overheard while talking to myself” by alan alda (one of my favorite men EVER) and I learned so much…. Sometimes we all need to listen to ourselves a little more

Jason Mraz told me today that the best advice he’s ever received is to stop listening to the questions and just believe in what you know.. that’s the answer… and it really is…

i’m reading the 7 spiritual steps to success right now, one of my dear friends gave it to me a year ago when I moved to singpore and in the move I lost it somehow… I found it the other day…. And what a moment to find it... right when i'm reinventing my life all over again. Its not quite like someone's jump started my heart but it's kind of close to that feeling. Do you know what i mean?

okay this ramble is truly rambling and it's late. i've got to be up in a few hours so i'll leave you all with that and post again soon from a different state of mind... maybe.

love loving love love
taya*

bubbles and a lil sunshine

i'm not feeling so great today.

sluggish, sore throat, tired, achy- like i'm coming down with something

so i'm holed up in my apartment drinking tea, watching movies, and now finally trying to get some work done online.

ideally i'd be sitting in my sunsoaked living room in california

staring out at the beach, salty breeze ruffling my hair

and that california scent filtering through my body

with each

inhale

exhale

inhale

ex

hale

i can't afford to be sick right now

there's too much going on

i'm giving myself today to rest, 

then i'm sucking it up and soldiering through.

i spent the past weekend in bangkok, my OTHER city of angels

got lots of good quality time in with my mom

caught up with old friends

even did a little shopping

went to a few temples to give alms

and ask for blessings

(you must know that being thai means being buddhist in a sense... its so deeply ingrained in the culture that there's no way around it... it simply becomes a part of who you are and how you live your life)

i got to see my aunty and cousin who i havent seen in over a year....

caught up with my manager

it's been a very good weekend...

i meant to say more- so many inspiring things came to mind as i walked the streets of bangkok (contrary to most people and to their great surprise i DO walk a lot in bangkok)

but i can't seem to find the words right now

all i can think about right now is a moment last thursday when i was sitting here in my living room, reading, when i noticed something floating outside my window in the sunshine...

bubbles.

there were glossy little bubbles floating down from the sky above just passing my window as if to say "hello"

i say enthralled for some time before realizing i should find the source and send a smile up to meet them... but lo&behold! no one in sight! there was no one above or around or ANYWHERE!? just me and my little mystery bubbles

SUCH a beautiful moment in life.

which reminds me of a habit not many people know i have...

i carry a big 99cent store bottle of bubbles in my car for those dreadful moments when i'm stuck in traffic (which is often since i live off the 405).... i like to blow bubbles out my window... you get all kinds of wonderful reactions from the people in nearby cars

and they make me happy

i'm a pretty simple-things kinda girl...

the smallest things can put the biggest smile on my face

(guess that comes with growing up alone with my imagination)

so right now

as i pour another cup of tea

i'm going to watch

the neverending story

(again)

and pick out a new book to read tonight

(i read God's Fool, Starbook, & Kafka on the Shore... all good reads in completely different styles/ manners/ etc., that i definitely recommend

anyway, i'm going to lay down a bit and try to pound some emails out

i hope this entry reminds you of the little things in life that make you happy (:

lovelove xx

taya

take a step back.

isn't it funny how life dangles time before you like a teasing master before a puppy? and like puppies sometimes we want that time more than anything in the world... other times, we're too distracted by the butterflies or the scent of something curious in the air, we could care less about the time and would rather it pass us by unnoticed...

i've gotten into the habit of underlining my books lately... well, if you count the past few months, "lately."  some writers are such magical word weavers that i want to commit their revelations to memory... i suppose sometimes it's just beautiful metaphors or descriptions... but other times i feel myself living through their characters- like, we could be siblings separated at birth and living in completely different places (and often at completely different times). i suppose sometimes (read: most of the time) it's just nice to know you're not the only one who feels a certain way, or thinks a certain thought, or even wishes for the oddest little things...

i'm currently reading "God's Fool."  It's a story about Chang and Eng- the Siamese twins from the early 1900's.  The writer captures such beautiful images in his pages that i may run out of ink before i finish the book. I have a feeling it may be one of those books i'll want to reread as soon as i've turned the last page.  Do you ever feel that way? I have this little habit of watching a movie multiple times in one sitting. I never put anyone else through it with me of course, but nevertheless if i watch a movie and become so smitten with the characters and their lives, i can't help but want to watch it again immediately- review their lives from the point of view of an educated friend of sorts... see if i can pick out other details, habits, intonations, glances.... The first time i watched Amelie i watched it 3 times back to back... the same goes for My Blueberry Nights, Love me if you Dare, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and The Fountain.  I'd like to add another to the list only i can't just yet- it's not out on dvd and since it's a 3 hour long movie i highly doubt i'll be sitting (or paying) to watch in a theater 3 times back to back.  Yes, i just watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and i am completely in love, again, with a life that is not mine- but it was my life! for 3 brief hours... i sat there completely enthralled and subconsciously aching for a pen and pad of paper to record my favorite scenes- lines, images, songs... I dont know how to describe the longing i feel after reading a good book or watching a good movie... but here is my attempt:

On December 31st, 1999 just as the world was at the brink of anticipation for the chaotic Y2K, i went bungee jumping down south by the beaches of Thailand. I should probably mention that i am scared of heights. But it was probably for that exact reason that i did it. Anyway, i was at the top of the lift platform with my toes dangling over the edge listening to the guy tell me to look out as far as i could and jump out- OUT! never DOWN. Never look down, never jump down- always OUT.  So naturally i looked down. Awful idea. But never mind that, the feeling i'm attempting to explain is how i felt immediately after i jumped.  The second i spread my arms and flung myself out over the world and began to FALL, my brain (and body) felt two things- 1) i'm FREE. THIS is LIFE... &... 2) oh-for- the- love- of- all- things- holy- in- this- world- get- me- back- to- where- i- was!!! (in this case, solid ground) ---> here at this moment in my life i actually pictured myself as the coyote in the old road runner cartoons... you know where he's got some devilish plan cooked up involving an anvil and a cliff and before he knows it the road runner has outsmarted him and he's holding the anvil out over the cliff, over emptiness, and he begins to fall while clawing upward at the air? THAT was me in my mind- CLAWING at that empty air to get back where i was when i felt safe.

Does that explain anything at all? Those few seconds after bungee jumping when i felt those two semi conflicting thoughts are almost precisely how i feel after closing a good book or watching the credits roll on a good movie... (and every inch of me hopes that i am IN many many movies that leave me and others feeling that exact same way...) 

So. I'm home now, sans movie to hit repeat on... i've lit all the candles in my apartment and i've left the lights off. There's no music playing and all i can hear are the sounds from the street (and their aren't many at this hour) and the click clacking of my keyboard as i type this ramble.

I was talking to a good friend of mine earlier today... he said, "i'm so tired of my life." to which i said "do something to change it. either you change what you're doing or you change your attitude. those are your options. pick one." his pick was to change what he's doing so i told him to change it..."if what you're doing isn't making you happy then why do it? you've got so much potential and so much to look forward to." and HE said, "i can't see it from this viewpoint." (do i have stubborn friends or what?) so here was my advice to him.. Take a step in a different direction- ANY direction- and you'll see it all differently.

this is one of those rare pieces of advice that i've given and actually listened to myself... you know what i mean? every now and then i find myself giving advice that i should probably be keeping in consideration too. so, on the subject of steps... i've taken many many steps in my life thus far and i'm hoping i've got many many more ahead of me, but of the steps i've ummm... stepped, in my 23 years, they've all led me somewhere that i ultimately felt i was destined to be. and i'm a pretty big believer in fate. not in the sense that i'm going to sit back and wait for fate to do what it will with me, but i believe there are certain things we are all destined for- many more things that we must work for- but nonetheless life has a plan for everyone and i feel like i've been living mine to my best ability. of course i've made countless mistakes, been naive plenty of times, and even lied here and there, but i've LIVED and i've learned a lot and of all the things i've learned i'm most thankful for learning how to be honest and how to love- myself, others, strangers, fictional characters, whoever!  Fate throws the most interesting curveballs at you and the oddest people in your path... you never know what might be up ahead, but i know where i'm trying to go and for now that's enough for me. I'm more than happy to enjoy the ride- detours and all (after all, a detour is just another way to get to where you're going isn't it?)

i wish i could detour my life for a few hours right now. if i were home i would walk down to the beach and lie in the sand... the sand feels so cold at night under the stars... this time of year the ocean that licks my california shore is usually beginning to calm down from it's angry winter tantrum... kind of fall back into it's love of the changing season and not crash down so heavily on it's oldest friend.  i could sit on the beach for hours (and i have, often!).  i can't think of any better place to put my life and this universe into perspective. 

hmmmm perspective... 

Merriam Webster defines perspective...

2 a: the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed ; also : point of view b: the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance
3 a: a visible scene ; especially : one giving a distinctive impression of distance : vista b: a mental view or prospect
4: the appearance to the eye of objects in respect to their relative distance and positions

and i've always sort of associated perspective with perception....

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite..." William Blake.

Merriam Webster's got many definitions for perception but here are the two i'd associate it with....
3 a: awareness of the elements of environment through physical sensation b: physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience
4 a: quick, acute, and intuitive cognition

so i suppose by spending hours in thought on the beach i'm not only putting my life and the universe in perspective but also defining my perception... fine tuning it if you will... sort of keeping myself in check and reminding myself how truly small i am in this universe.

oh. there's also another reason i go down to the beach alone, especially at night... you see ever since i was 11 and discovered that i could climb out my window and sit on part of the roof of my house, i've been having this heavy love affair with the moon. We've seen each other in all sorts of lights, different conditions, different ages, stages, heartbreaks, joys... there are few things in this world that comfort me as much as the moon.  the moon inspires me.

and to share with you all, the most inspiring thing i've read so far this month, here is an excerpt from Jason Mraz's blog (which you can read for yourself on his myspace page- amazing amazing stuff from an incredible human being who isnt afraid to show how human he truly is): "Did you ever stop to think that the Universe decided to have a (insert your name) experience? It isn’t the other way around. You, whoever you think you are, can’t heal your bones. You don’t make your heart beat. You don’t have to sit and think about making your food digest. If you have a child, you aren’t the one inside it making it tick and commanding it to grow. The Universe is at work in so many wonderful ways, and it doesn’t stop just because we begin to think we know everything in the adult system. Hell, everything we know is just a story that we’ve made up to help us organize this reality anyway. And since it’s only a story – feel free to change it at any time."

 So... with that thought i will leave us both... well, i wont really leave me, but i'll leave you to chew on that for a while as i take a nice long hot shower and crawl into bed to relive the past 24 hours of my life that i've spent adding to MY story so far.

i will write again sooner than the last, i promise. love always,

taya

last christmas i gave you my heart...

... that has to be THE most overplayed christmas song EVERRRR. 

well ladies and gents, the holidays are here and there's some sort of cheer around every corner- singapore is DECKED OUT in christmas decor and there's all sorts of nonsense going on around orchard road- pretty ridic if you ask me i mean who's ever heard of christmas in the asian tropics?! haha not that i'm really complaining, i've spent half my life celebrating the birth of jesus in tropical heat waves... that's besides the point.

Here's the point.

Christmas, most people seem to forget, is about GIVING. This christmas try to remember how fortunate you are to be able to give... then GIVE. And i dont mean spend all your money on christmas gifts for your other fortunate friends (although i'm guilty guilty guilty- i bought all my friends gifts already) BUT there are lots of other alternatives to ipods, trendy clothes, fancy jewelry, designer purses, and other things that will be forgotten by the time 2010 rolls around. BUT if you're going to spend money- make sure more than you and your friend feel the benefits of christmas :) if you wanna buy a friend some shoes check out:

www.tomsshoes.com - you buy a pair and a pair gets donated to a cute lil barefoot kid in a country wayyy worse off than where you live.

if you're gonna buy toys, buy some for other tots too:

www.toysfortots.org

instead of heading to the mall check out:

www.tenthousandvillages.com

and even better yet, check out www.buynothingchristmas.org

there are SO many other options for xmas gifts than the usual go to a store, pay money, wrap the gift, then hand it to your friend...

one year i made soap for all my friends, another year i decorated picture frames and put pix of me and my friends in them, a few years ago i knitted scarves for my friends, i usually bake or make truffles for our family friends (i baked cookies for the entire mtv office this year), i used to make a lot of jewelry for my gfs for christmas... there are SO many alternatives! you can adopt an endangered animal (remember when i adopted the sea turtles earlier this year?!), you can make something amazing- if you're an artist, create art- if you bake, bake!- if you're good with music, make mixtapes!... honestly, i LOVE homemade gifts, in the end they mean so much more to me than the random material things that i'll love for a year or two- the homemade gifts never get looked over, never get tossed out, and only get more love.

for more ideas on alternative gifts like those check out the alternative link on the www.buynothingchristmas.org website :) 

i'm heading home to the beaches of southern california for christmas and new years to catch up with family and friends and cook cook bake cook bake and enjoy the holidays :) i'd love to hear what you're all up to and i would LOVE to hear what gifts youre giving your friends this year! 

be safe, dont drink and drive, celebrate responsibly, look for ways to smile, and give as much, if not more than you get. take the time to TRULY be with friends and family this holiday season- i'll be making smores around the fireplace with the Rogers family and talking about the good old days- reliving christmases past... playing lots of board games and staying up all night talking. This christmas i hope you all find at least half the happiness i have found in the people in my life. We are all reflections of the world and if you smile from the heart you can start a revolution.

love hugs and holiday cheer

Taya

PILIPINOooo

MABUHAY! hahaha okay okay so i have to admit... i saw it everywhere in the philippines, i've always heard my filipino friends say it... and yet i have no idea what it means...? any clue?

SO 2 days after my european whirlwind of London, Paris, and Take That, i flew off from Singapore to Manila to Caticlan then hopped on a ferry to Boracay! Boracay is BEAUTIFUL- it looks just like the southern islands in Thailand (which are near and dear to my heart) 

But the best part about our little trip was getting to meet mtv vjs from all over.... there was me from Mtv Asia, ZhuZhu from Mtv China, Teppei from Mtv Japan, Mandy from Mtv Taiwan,

 Sean from Mtv Korea, Amber from Mtv New Zealand, and Apl.de.Ap repping Mtv US/ Canada

We had SOOOOO much fun together it was ridiculous! The work was small and easy and we

 had a lot of down time to get to know each other- kick it, swap stories, all that good stuff. Now

 i

 dont know about alllll Mtv Vjs, but the ones i've met are DAMN AWESOME haha Some of us

 have only been with mtv for a while and some of us have been with mtv for 10 years but we all love what we do and we all love life... 

After work and every moment in between we were laughing so hard i felt at home... made me miss my friends at home even more. Then to top it all off, there were these ADORABLE little local kids that would come hang out on the beach in front of our hotel 

they dig these patterns into the sand and place candles in them so they turn into these super dope sand lantern things:

For dinner two different nights we headed to the local fish market where you can pick your own seafood to be cooked- we got shrimp, prawns, fish, clams, squid, and check out the size of this lobster!!!

That lobster was the size of a small child. no joke. my dad was soooo jealous! The night before we left i took a lil sunset sail with teppei and two of our lovely mtv people- SO AWESOME.

I didnt get to see much else of Boracay but it was beautiful from what i have seen and the trip was... an eye opener... a good reminder... soul shining heart smiling times.

thats really all we can hope for these days... 

sorry these are short and a little dry, i'll write more when the apartment isnt threatening to kick me out of my own disorder ;p

love. smile. xoxoxo

i see london, i see france

BONJOUR!

so this is weeks late buuuut i had 2 days between London and Paris before heading to Boracay, Philippines for a week and since i've been back i've been catching up on regular MTV work along with other stuffs- trying to clean the house (my apartment is complete shambles right now, some sort of swirl of laundry, travel clothing, christmas presents, and the random accumulation of the past month of my life.... SO to start here's a quick recap of my european adventures....We took the redeye out of singapore and arrived in london at 6am... driving from Heathrow to the heart of the city in the early morning darkness looks like New Jersey.... not the prettiest city BUT London justified herself later... 

ANYWAY we got to the hotel godawfulearly and they wouldnt let us check in because none of the rooms were available yet... nothing was open... not even the hotel restaurant SO we sat in the lobby couches and i finished reading Paolo Coelho's The Fifth Mountain... when the hotel restaurant finally opened we ate a nice long 2 hour breakfast waiting to see if we could check into our rooms at 10- when we couldnt i slapped on some make up in the lobby bathroom and we grabbed our gear and headed out to shoot.
London day 1 was SO LONDON. Gray, dreary, drizzling, FREEZING and sad out.... we hit the Buckingham Palace then walked through the park to Big Ben and the church then the London Eye then took a boat to Tower Bridge- stopping to shoot footage all along the way and stopping every so often to take pictures- a difficult task for most, but silly me, in my hurry out of the hotel i forgot my gloves- i thought i'd lose a few fingers on

 this trip... almost did! I was so so cold i couldnt even type an email on my blackberry to my

 mom and my roomie letting them know i got there safely.Anyway we finished shooting at 2pm and headed back to the hotel to check into our rooms, shower, change, and then we met up with my producer's cousin who lives in London and offered to take us around... soooo at 3 we finally regrouped and headed out for a quick bite of Japanese then charged the streets to shop shop shop in the 2 hours we had left before all the shops closed at 6 (it was a sunday, unfortunately)... we basically only made it to topshop and h&m - i would go back to london just to go to that damn topshop!!!! it was the retail equivalent of the titanic and i woulda lost all my money if it werent for the time crunch.... soooo 2 solid hours of shopping later (i actually didnt end up with too much! everyone in my life should rejoice haha) we finally headed to dinner. 

I wanted to hit a pub, grab some truly London tastes and a beer or two before going back to the hotel buuut when we finally got to the recommended pub, they were closed sooo we wandered the London streets for a bit longer before finally settling on a cute little italian deli. Dinner was good but nothing beat the last few hours of the day, wandering the British streets, seeing what life in London is all about... i LOVE LONDON!So we turned in early for the night, unfortunately but we did have to be up and out early to head to the eurostar station... long story short... we waited around the eurostar station for AGES - literally hours- until Take That showed up and we were able to ask them 2 quick

 questions before everyone was herded onto the train for the 3 hour ride to Paris. We got to

 Paris and after mass confusion and more cold rain, we finally made it to our hotel where we all checked in then went for a stroll to find a spot for dinner... dinner was MMM MMM

 MMMMMMMMM... then we headed to the TAKE THAT launch party- Circus themed (to match the album title no doubt) with a flame thrower out front and people on stilts and a bunch of girls dressed as the people who sell snacks at the circus annnnd a pretty ballerina girl who was totally nonchalant and tatt'd up- i LOVED her. We waited around with the rest of the papparazzi/ camera people for another hour or two before take that showed up, we took a few snaps at them then grabbed a few drinks, heard the first 2 songs then a handful of us peaced out. It was way too pushy up in that little club and a lot of the guests were... obnoxious. Not my kinda crowd.
I spent the rest of the night galavanting around Paris with Alvey (channel V vj at large and all around awesome guy)- 

we were the only 2 still up to be out and about so we walked the dark parisian streets 

then caught a cab to the eiffel tower just in time for midnight when the tower lights up and dazzles... it sparkles and shimmers and i have to admit i felt my breath catch in wonder.... 

the world can be so beautiful thanks to men.... hard to believe sometimes that we're slowly killing the

 planet... Anyway after that little escapade, we headed back to the hotel for another quick night of sleep.
Day 3 we're up and out early again, we've all got scheduled interviews with TAKE THAT at their awesome little boutique hotel a few blocks from ours so we head over to prep and set up... an hour later i'm talking to the guys about the new album, their old stuff, and when Robbie's gonna rejoin the group, laughing about football and all kinds of random stuff til it's time to cut it all, give Alvey his chance to ask a few questions then me and the channel V team (my team LUCKY THEM arranged to stay on for another few days of play) are off to the eiffel tower again for a little photo op before we catch the train back to London and then head to Heathrow to catch our flights back to asia...
So that in a nutshell was my trip to London/ Paris... i'm now in love with london and i've been in love with paris for years now... SUCH a beautiful city... i cant wait to go back and spend more time there... i could totally live in paris for a while... italy too- i LOVE italy... sigh. But here i am back in my messy little apartment in Singapore trying to wrap up work, bake christmas cookies for the office, then pack my bags to fly home for the holidays :) YAY! That's right folks i'm flying back to california for christmas and new years... SOOOOO STOKED to see my family and my friends and to cook in MY kitchen and drive my car and BE by the beach...

which reminds me of my trip to the philippines... but i'll post that separately....

so many adventures, so little time.. LOVE!

delectable delicious ambiguity.

i found this old journal entry.

thought it was kinda interesting to read back through so i thought i'd post it here. i wrote it back in may 2007 a few days before graduation from loyola marymount university....

They keep telling me that this is a pivotal moment in my life; that this is the beginning of a new chapter... but I feel like I'm beginning a whole new book.

Life is about to become very unstable, fickle, bittersweet, unpredictable, and utterly surreal.... delicious ambiguity.

And in this ethereal moment as I limbo my way through the days, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about choices. Every day we decide between something or another- do I want to wake up early or sleep in, get starbucks or eat breakfast, stay home or go out, say something or let the moment pass... these decisions seem so minute sometimes that I forget they are slowly and discreetly shaping my life.

I've made my fair share of bad choices in the past- I won't call them "wrong choices" because they led me to where I am today... but I have definitely made some stupid decisions, incorrect assumptions, and naive choices.

I don't doubt I have a few more in my future.

But it's all part of the learning process right? We do what we think will make us happy. And I'm not talking about "rob-a-bank, hit-a-stranger, cheat-on-your-significant-other-for-a-night, spend-all-your-money-on-something-stupid" happy...
I'm talking about that deep, true happy where even after you factor in the consequences of your actions, thoughts, and decisions- the happiness is still standing strong.

II- the secret lies in the present- if you pay attention to the present, you will be able to improve it. And if you improve the present, whatever happens afterwards will be better too. Each day brings us Eternity. -II

i'm re-reading The Alchemist. For the 4th time. I'm at that point again in my life where i'm not only questioning EVERYTHING and EVERYONE but i'm running in place listening to EVERYONE ELSE ask me questions that i still can't answer.

How come doing what's right isn't always what FEELS right?

Because of where i am in my life right now, with graduation and the rest of my life ahead of me blah blah blah- i've found myself deep in conversation with various people about decisions- theirs AND mine... the ones i've made, the ones ahead of me, the ones i need to make NOW.

now... do i move to singapore? move back to thailand? stay here? say yes? agree to disagree? try? give up? walk away? burn bridges?

**FYI. i am burning bridges. i've always had a thing for fire. but this time i had help lighting the match. you can thank yourself for that.

then... i could have stayed in thailand- i would be LIVIN IT UP- it would be ridiculous. i would be WORKING. i would be BORED... i could still be stuck in a completely timeconsuminglifedemeaningselfless relationship. thank god i moved.

((where you are is exactly where you are meant to be))

Turning pages...

It's not that I like making things difficult... I don't prefer doing things the hard way, but I'd rather work hard for something than have it handed to me.

There's a lot of hard work up ahead.

and i'm READY for it. ONTHEVERGE.

i wonder who will be around now?

((some people are all talk you know?))

Each person you meet will serve a purpose in your life. It may be as minute as making you smile for 5 seconds as they pass you on the street or as important as making you see something you've been blind to for years.

I don't know what role I play in your life. Nor am I always sure of what role you play in mine... but it has to be comforting to know that no moment in life is ever wasted... right?

**Smile at the person across from you on the subway, tell a stranger a secret, don't burn bridges so quickly... or maybe remember why you built the bridge to begin with.

delicious ambiguity.

II- some stories dont have a clear beginning, middle, and end. life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. delicious ambiuity -II

so there it is. Taya back in 2007. interesting huh?

wellll i've got a big update coming up but i'm flying off to london/ paris tonight for a few days of work- i'll post a big update when i get back (i'm not taking my laptop with me - highfive!) SO til then, think about it.

oh, and smile.

Monday, November 24, 2008

truth and reconciliation

Yup that's right. MEXICAN food. MMMMMmmmm.... i miss mexican food SO much- being california born and mostly raised, mexican food is eaten just about as often as western/ thai/ japanese in my family and good mexican food is SO hard to find in asia! 

My mom was in town visiting for the weekend so we organized a game night saturday night at my friends house- AWESOMEST IDEA OF THE MONTH.  My mom and i cooked up a storm of tacos, 7 layer dip, and crab + shrimp quesadillas - my mouth is watering just thinking back about the meal....

Anyway we played a few games- "Who am i?" "Scrabble" "Fact or Crap" and overall it was a much needed night in with a few amazing people and some good food. 

It's been a laid back weekend, something rare in my life lately... i can't believe i've been living here in singapore for exactly 10 months already... where does the time go?! 

which brings me back to this entry which is about to take us all back into time- MY time to be exact... November 2 years ago i wrote something which oddly still resonates strongly in my life now... here it is

"each grain of sand is a memory- mine, yours, and a million other smiles i will never know. each grain brings back to me a song or the sound of a distant voice, words whispered like the waves or said in stern silence when moonlight illuminates faces and eyes as the truth sinks in.... and again i'm crying in the sand like when i was five and my cousin crushed my sandcastle simply because he could.

we never needed reason when we were little but we always asked why... i'm afraid to ask that question now- mostly because i think i already know the answers. a lifetime of sand between sandangels and me now, sitting here pen in hand, toes digging into the sand and the understanding of waves- life rising and falling like heartbeats and hopes pulling in and pushing out but always returning because everywhere is home and every move is in a direction whether right or wrong, we move to retrace footsteps we were never aware we made. "

bali, 2005

candy rain.

i have that song stuck in my head.

"myyy love do you ever dreeeaamm of candy coated raiiindrops?"

do you know what i'm talking about?

soul for real circa 1995

listen. love. let go.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

burn,

today i woke up, stared at my ceiling for a few minutes before feeling around the bed for my blackberry and beginning my technological tie to the day. At some point in the fingertips-on-bedspread shuffle, i kinda paused and thought.... "why bother?" so i laid there a while longer before really shutting SNOOZE off once again and checking my phone0- getting up to start the random day ahead of me... 

i headed out to work, did some SWAG, then braved the rain to get home to change before charging out to yoga.. a much needed class- it's been far toooooo long since i've set foot in any kind of workout atmosphere (i think the east coast of the island was the last time, where i biked and ran til i thought i'd pass out)...

then i kinda wandered downtown for a while... went to borders where my usual gang at coffee bean WERENT working for once, got my regular chai latte and sat down in the darkest corner with my book- 3rd book i've finished this week (the wednesday letters, the pact, and the virgin suicides)... feels good to be reading so much lately... been doing a lot of writing too- who knows where it comes from?

wandered a little more, bought some salt 'n' vinegar chips, a gingerale, and some cinnamon butter shortbread star cookies (AMAZING), then came home to change back into pjs and just.... sit. lounge. drink in the silence. make dinner. watch tv. zone out. eat cookies. drink a little white wine. laugh out loud to myself. and wonder where in the world did i leave my.......

life's a funny thing isn't it?

when you've got nothing left to burn

you have to set yourself on fire.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

sugar for your ears

Aloha loves!

i just got back from a weekend in KL, Malaysia where i hosted the U.O.X Play event (thanks to the people at XPAX) and as long as the event was (11hours ish) and although not too many people showed up (since it hasnt been well promoted just yet) - the performances were AWESOME. I really admire UOX for pulling together so many local artists to showcase their work at all these events (there are 5 more UOX play events in malaysia between now and january)... seriously it's heartwarming to see locals acts finally get some love (those of you in singapore, please, take note!)...

i fell in love over and over again with a bunch of people who generously poured sugar in my ears over the course of the lovely grey day and the sticky dark night.

here are a few of those wonderful people now; take a taste, fall in love. 

let it happen. (he did:)
 & in case you were wondering...
Zee Avi (previously known as Koko Kaina) singing one of her beautiful original songs called, "Someone You Used to Know"

check out more of her stuff at www.youtube.com/KokoKaina

For a completely different flava in your ears, here's "Little Miss Hip Hop She Dont Stop" Arabyrd who's fresh n young - with a steez like M.I.A:

www.myspace.com/arabyrd

He kicked off the event for us, crooning sweet sweet tunes and talkin to me between sets since we were pretty much the only ones really there haha

www.myspace.com/paolodelfino

If you know asian hip hop you know Joe- he threw it down as usual:

www.myspace.com/joeflizzowkartel

A new trio of guitars to fall in love with, Rashdan + 2 played some awesome melodies that quickened up the night and landed me some where among the stars...

www.myspace.com/rashdanh

Oooo second up that day, Isaac Entry and his lovely guitar... he did a pretty lil cover of Bob Marley's "No woman, No cry" that almost had me in tears

www.myspace.com/ientry

The only boy to bring his EP CDs ect., so i bought one (: check out his page:

www.myspace.com/boamiriqram

Yuna and Mili'z also performed and i loved loved their stuff but i havent found them quite yet... i'll keep you posted

SO besides the AMAZING musicians, there were food&beverage booths, plus flea market stalls with all kindsa goodies from pretty little vintage things to dope graffiti artwork to cupcake stands :) soooo i cant show you what i bought YET but i will show you some pix from the event....

    

mmmm cuppycakes :)   oooo chocolate cake on a stick DIPPED in chocolate and rainbow star sprinkles 

and what better way to end the long day/ night than 

 Ramly burgers with the girls! ;)

alright, time to do laundry and catch up on life at home. hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as i enjoyed mine <3

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

strangers & best friends.

*san diego, CA, sometime before summer 2005

when i was six my teacher asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up

i told her i wanted to be a mermaid.

fast forward seventeen years and i would still love to be a mermaid... but i'm on my way to becoming many other things i'd love to be too... ontheverge.

i never pictured myself being here right now in this chair at this moment thinking this let alone writing these thoughts on a website for hundreds of almost strangers to read.
but here i am, here you are, and here we go...

life's greatest expectation is that you will make the most of your life
that things will always change
that you can expect nothing to turn out the way you planned
you never know what may happen
things arent always what they seem...
the same goes for people.
i've met some of the most incredible people in the world and there are so many more incredible people i will be meeting in the future but here is what i've learned from the wonderful random strangers so far...

never give up.
faith is easy to come by hard to hold onto.
human contact is amazing.
a smile can change everything.
my best friends are effing amazing.
laugh until you hurt.
dance dance dance.thunderstorms can be beautiful.
love.
it's okay to feel dangerous.
sexy should be natural.
beauty comes from within.
beware of posers.
dont front.
it's the little things.
take pictures.
read books.
write poetry.
be original.dont sweat the dirty laundry.
love some more.
respect.
follow the golden rule.
things are never as bad as they seem.

recently i've met some very interesting very different very inspiring people.

you can never have too many friends.
lately i've been intrigued to see which of these friends are planning on sticking around... which ones have simply walked away... which ones never left... and which ones are only around for... well... for whatever reason they'll never fulfill...

so many of you, you know who you are, who i loved have left
so many of you who i never thought i'd say hello to again are still around (you know who you are)
so many of you will never hear me say good bye... you should know who you are.

we've shared the better and worst parts of 3 months, 2 years, 3 years, 6 years, 8 years, 10 years, 1 month, and i just wanted to say thank you for everything you did or didnt do.

i have great expectations for my life... and beautiful expectations for my friends.

after all... life is beautiful and you should always expect the unexpected.

*phuket, thailand, september 2008

the details in the fabric...

i took this picture in bali a few years ago... a little local boy on the beach made me completely jealous as he stood there in his natural skin completely absorbed in the world and the ocean before him. 

i'd give anything to be him, there, right now.

today was just one of those days. 

you know the ones.

where nothing goes your way, everything is fraying a little at the edges-

not quite falling apart but unraveling a little...

i woke up with a start this morning

(i've been having the most intense vivid dreams)

and rushed to put my face on and dress to shoot mtv news at the office.

i baked all those cupcakes last night and so i took 24 mini cupcakes for my bosses and co-workers and  with all the sunshine singapore had to offer this morning,

the pretty icing melted off the lil cupcakes by the time i got there!

:(

a sad sad day for cupcakes...

anyway, for whatever reason

i was tongue tied ALL day today

like you wouldnt believe!!!

and that RARELY EVER EVER happens to me

those of you who know me, 

know that i talk fast and i talk a lot.

tongue tied is just not my style.

so news took many many more attempts than usual...

i took my lunch break and sat at starbucks for my morning cup of coffee

(BTW, the starbucks team at plaza singapura? AMAZING. You guys make my day every time i walk in there (: so thank you for that)

so i got my morning cuppacoffee and sat reading for an hour or so-

i'm reading The Wednesday Letters

and i've mentioned to you all before that i get really absorbed in books

i laughed out loud, teared a little, and tried to get through the chapters without being an emotional wreck in public... i wonder if i succeeded...?

anyway then i was off to studio-

4 SWAGS and 1 episode of chart attack

and the tongue tiedness just stuck with me.

SO FRUSTRATING

about half way through the shows i began to feel nauseous and dizzy

(silly me, so absorbed in my coffee and book, i forgot to eat lunch)

so i soldiered on through the rest and then hailed a cab

homeward bound

i zoned out in the cab, ipod in, the "sway me gently" playlist playing

and slid into a silent meditative state where nothing but the lyrics really reached me...

i paid the cab, grabbed my house keys and headed into the apartment

only to realize in the elevator that...

my blackberry bold fell out of my pocket and was sitting in the backseat of the cab.

stupid stupid stupid me.

i ALWAYS check the backseat when i get out

ALWAYS

except today.

sigh. 

so i flipped out, yelled a few profanities at myself

then rushed into the apartment to call the taxi service center from skype

THANK GOD FOR SKYPE

and filed a lost and found claim...

anyway 20 awful minutes later

my roomie got home and 2 minutes later my real estate agent called...!?

the taxi driver found my phone and called her

so she called my roomie

and told me what was going on so i could call MY phone 

the taxi driver

sweet sweet taxi driver man and his heart of gold

drove back to my apartment and returned my phone to me.

HE COULD HAVE MADE SO MUCH MONEY off my carelessness.

i wanted to hug him.

but people here dont seem to be big on physical contact... let alone smiling...

(why is it that singaporeans dont like to smile?... except my friends at starbucks.... no one here really smiles back... some people look at me like i'm a monster when i smile at them.... odd...)

anyway i got my phone back.

i havent felt so relieved in... i dont even know how long! 

and then i felt sick to my stomach realizing how incredibly important my blackberry is to me.

it's awful isnt it

this deep addiction we have to technology...

anyway, that's why i wish i could be that little boy, now, cut all my technological umbilical cords, shed all my manufactured skin, and just stand in awe and wonder of the greatest masterpiece of all... wind in my hair, ocean spray on my skin, and nothing but the humbleness of the world keeping me tied to existence.

amidst my evening panic... i heard jason mraz and james morrison in my head singing...

Calm down
Deep breaths
And get yourself dressed instead
Of running around
And pulling all your threads and
Breaking yourself up

If it's a broken part, replace it
But, if it's a broken arm then brace it
If it's a broken heart then face it

And hold your own
Know your name
And go your own way
Hold your own
Know your own name
And go your own way

And everything will be fine
Everything will be fine...

everything will be fine.

sometimes it's nice to drown in the silence for a while though

i would have appreciated the silence that accompanied the loss of my bb a lot more

if it were intentional

or just... off.

so tonight

as soon as i post this and finish a few more chapters of the Wednesday Letters

i'll be sitting in the dark for a little meditation

no phones

no computers

no television

no lights

no distractions

just me

my thoughts

and hopefully a little serenity.

it's kind of nice to take some time to examine the details in the fabric....

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

a lil rainbow chip frosting never hurts...

"There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?"- Rumi

i feel it.

so i made cupcakes today.

chocolate cupcakes with rainbow chip vanilla frosting.

(and yes i drew pink stars on them).

they saved the day.

*shirt courtesy of miss jilly meyers

smile smile smile that's all i'm asking for.

Monday, November 10, 2008

oh go fly a kite!

it is raining all kinds of ridiculous zoo animals in singapore today and i finished work sooooo early today that i managed to finish errands and everything before noon and so i've been HERE on my couch back in my pjs and hoodie with the air-conditioning on full blast before my roomie gets home and shuts them all down (cuz she gets cold super easy)... i've been GLUED to my laptop for the past 5 hours, doing all kinds of intensely silly reading and research between bites of food and watching Garden State and Juno... yeah it's one of those days.

it's raining it's pouring the sky sounds like its roaring.....

and i want rain boots dammit. why can i never find ones like these when i look for rain boots?!

if you find a pair, send 'em my way. i'm a size 7.5 ;) THANKS!

frost me. please?

i would do unholy things for a cupcake right now.

see that chocolate frosted one at the back with rainbow sprinkles? it's got my name all over it.

speaking of cupcakes, a few weeks ago i got a lovely lil package from a beautiful girl named jillian meyers who is as in love with frosted treats as i am- in the package was a shirt from:

www.johnnycupcakes.com

jillian sent me the shirt that says "make cupcakes, not war" <3

oh, and if you're wondering how to get a girl like me up the stairs?... oh baby baby...

mmm mmmm mmmmmmm all the way up.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

tickle is all that remains...

When i was a little watered-down asian girl who looked nothing like either of my parents (oh wait, i still am...).... i used to want to be a ballerina. In fact i insisted on wearing my ballet clothes ALL THE TIME. Then this one halloween, i finally wanted to be something a little more gutsy than a ballerina, i wanted to be SUPERGIRL. Yeah, well my bff at the time beat me to the store and got the last costume.  Guess who was a ballerina again?

2 hours of trick-or-treating later and who really cared? we were so hyped up off of sugary goodness that i could barely write my name (backwards "Y"s and all).  1 decade and a half later i kinda wish i could shove myself back into that ballerina outfit- kinda wish i had stuck with dancing all these years- dancing was always my first love- sometimes you just gotta MOOOOVE in any way you can, just DANCE.

"You know what I do when I feel completely unoriginal? I make a noise or I do something that no one has ever done before. And then I can feel unique again even if it's only for like a second."

Sam (Natalie Portman), Garden State

Beautiful. 

p.s. you should see my recital tapes. we danced to "teddy bear, teddy bear" one year- oh my, my. Teddy Bear had no idea what he was in for.

you are my canvas

one of my fave people, one of the dopest up and coming photographers, new in new york, old as old skool, HAHAHA nah nah jussssst playin... but for reals. check out his shots & his blog
sucka duce! get with it son.

www.buddhabong.com

lovelovelove

it happens.

remember when i told you all that i was in japan for 4 days of work?

welllll here it is :)

thoughts?

who put my earmuffs on the cookie?

i just got home from watching puppets cuss, have loud sex, sing, and find purpose in life.

if you havent already, go watch AVENUE Q whether you're in Boston, New York, or here in Singapore where they're performing at the Esplanade from now til Nov 16. Take the whole family for some dirty fun (unless someone in the family is under 16... THEY will have to wait in the car).  You'll think twice the next time you watch sesame street (and you'll DEFINITELY question Barney's integrity).

what's life without laughter?

can you keep a secret?

i check the POST SECRET blog religiously to see what secrets anonymous strangers are sharing with the world.... here are my two most impressionable/ memorable/ heart tugging from this sunday:

i always try to think of what i would send in... what secret do i have deep down inside that i could release out into the world... then again some of the secrets aren't really secrets at all... just people admitting honest truths about themselves... now THOSE i have plenty of.

Sometimes i eat an extra scoop of ice cream or an extra slice of pizza for all those other girls in my industry who are starving themselves and missing out on the delicious things in life... and i never feel bad about it later.

18.7% of pure f'ingoodness.

my life changed today. 

i'm thanking him:

check out his blog.

you'll thank him too.

www.martinsays.com

make faces.

get snap happy every now and then. you never know what faces you'll make. magical. purely magical. your face will thank you.

then i will when you send me the pix ;) 

just let her dance.

put on your dancing shoes and start a revolution. paint the town pink and forget every insult you've ever heard. find the time to bask in the compliments and the humility to acknowledge that you are only as amazing as the people you surround yourself with. life changes with every breath and even though it gets hard to breathe sometimes, you have to remember the little things that make life worth waking up for in the morning... 

that makes me think of the end of Stranger Than Fiction ... love the ending:

As Harold took a bite of a Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be okay.  Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies.  And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.  And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause.  They are here to save our lives.  I know the idea seems strange, but i also know that it just so happens to be true.

So. Go buy some Bavarian sugar cookies and hug a friend.

Somedays, thats all you need to get by.