2012 in Review

For me 2009 to 2011 was sort of what my friend Terri would call a shitshow. Keeping that in mind, 2012 wasn’t so bad.  Further I heard a sermon in church yesterday that spoke directly to me.  The minister made the point that in the darkest times in life whatever you are going through and whatever pain you are experiencing, is actually a growing pain or birthing pain if you will.  These times are always a rebirth of sorts.  You come out of the experience altered, different, and hopefully, better.  He reminded us that what feels like the end usually turns out to also be the beginning of something else.  Like the acorn which has to die to become the great oak or the butterfly which has to live in the gooey dark cocoon before transforming, so can we see difficult times in our lives.  I’d say in 2012 my wings have sprouted. Again.  I hope you found this year as palatable as I did or better.  If it sucked, no worries, there’s always next year.

Some highlights from the past year:

YOLO.  I was a Drake fan before the whole “you only live once” trend took over and he had the idea to try to capitalize on the popularity of the term.  I was totally amused by Jack Black when he said, “Isn’t yolo carpe diem for dumb people”, giggle.  The tragic drunk tweet from an aspiring rapper of the famous acronym right before his fatal car accident didn’t help matters.  Still, by the end of 2012 even Katie Couric had a segment on her show called YOLO.  In 2012, YOLO became one of the most popular terms on twitter.  I’d say that’s pretty iconic.  As a quasi-buddist, it doesn’t really apply to me, but it definitely makes my 2012 list.

The Summer Olympics. I loved the London Summer Games and was once again dazzled by team USA!

The Election.

Pinterest.  I heart Pinterest and have expanded my social media use and virtual friend list exponentially through this site.  When I go to a book store, I easily lose time there.  One hour feels like five minutes, and that is how I lose time on pinterest as well.  I have a writing board, a fashion board, a fantasy board, and a love board.   Actually I have 44 boards and counting.  The site is like porn for an artist because it is a constant running fashion show of high def inspiration right at your fingertips.  I like zoning out on Pinterest much more than Facebook because the site is just a series of pictures that link to blogs and other information, minus all the ads and drama of other social media outlets.

Instagram.  Aside from Pinterest, I love staying in touch with friends via Instagram.  On Instagram you get to share snapshots of your life minus the drama.  Plus, thanks to the cool settings, now we can all channel our inner Annie Leibovitz.

Kony 2012.  This Invisible Children campaign worked and made warlord Joseph Kony famous.

Gangnam Style.  True story, picture it: G. and I, spring 2012 at this Korean BBQ restaurant in K-town. The now iconic PSY video comes on, but G’s back is to the TV.  I say to G., who is first generation Japanese, “You have to turn around and see this guy.  Your brother is working overtime.”  He turns around and sees the awesomeness for himself, shaking his head with defeated disbelief.  ”Asians are weird sometimes” he shrugged with apology in his voice.  Several weeks later the PSY video went viral and by October I was begging him to dress as PSY for Halloween!  The following video shall live in on in youtube history! Heeeyyy  Sexy lady…

Super Soul Sunday.  I love the programing on OWN on Sunday.  It inspires me to learn something new, expanding my heart and my mind every week.  I even watch the re-runs.  I thought I was going to miss O so much when she retired her show last year, but her next chapter rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lana Del Rey.  I have a new queen, her name is Lana. For me, if 2011 belonged to Adele, then this year belonged to Lana Del Rey.  Her albums Born to Die and Paradise were my favorite new music of 2012.

Space Sky Diver.   A few months ago, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner set the record for high-altitude free-fall, leaping from a capsule 24 miles above the Earth.  It was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

Draw Something Art.  I played this game too much this year, however I’m not as good as some amazing competitors out there.

USC.  I’m a graduate student again.

In Remembrance…

Rest in peace Etta James (singer), Whitney Houston (singer, actress), Gore Vidal (writer, critic), Michael Clark Duncan (actor), Phyllis Diller  (actress, comedienne), Jenni Rivera (singer), Don Cornelius (host of Soul Train), Donna Summer (singer, songwriter), Vidal Sassoon (British hairdresser- “if you don’t look good, we don’t look good”), Dick Clark (radio and television personality), and everyone in the world who transitioned this year.

In an interview with Oprah, Zen monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said of death, “Its like a cloud in the sky.  When the cloud is no longer in the sky it doesn’t mean that the cloud has died.  The cloud is continued in other forms, like rain or snow or ice.  So you can recognize your cloud in her new forms.  If you are very fond of a beautiful cloud, and if your cloud is no longer there, you should not be sad.  Your beloved cloud might have become the rain, calling on you, “Darling. Darling. Don’t you see me in my new form?”  And then you will not be struck with grief and despair.  Your beloved one continues always.”

Wherever you are tonight, remember the words of T.S. Elliot, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

Happy New Year friends.  Cheers, and I love you!  xo Dre

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Happiness Floats

Oh to be a poet… I love poets. I always have. I’m pretty sure it all started with Dr. Seuss, who made books and language fun for me. Although I still adore Dr. Seuss, my tastes have evolved from the days I would beg my Daddy to please please please read me Green Eggs and Ham just one more time. In my budding adolescence I recall discovering Edgar Allen Poe. His beautiful Annabell Lee, his raven, and his ever creepy tell-tale heart had me thinking that he was the coolest most clever writer ever! Even then I had a thing for the dark, shadow side of humanity. In high school, I came to appreciate Shakespeare’s stories of love, betrayal and life lessons though comedy and tragedy, which I can say mirror my own experiences in love and life. In college there was the whole coffee house scene complete with complaint rock and emo spoken word performances describing harrowing anguish and the ever calamitous state of our world as only youth from the 90′s could tell it. I found validation, solace, and amusement in Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Maya Angelou, ee cummings, T.S. Elliot, John Keats, Pablo Neruda, Rumi and others. But not all poets are from a time long before my own. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Steven Patrick Morrissey, Jill Scott, Tori Amos, and Prince are a few more of my favorite word magicians. Profound, prolific, thought provoking and inspiring… This is why I love poets. They use words to translate love, pain, loss, joy, apathy and every sentiment really. They mix language and emotion and string together sentences that can deeply touch the human spirit.  Poets help us understand life the way only art can. To be a poet is to be able to experience life, and then write about it so that the rest of us can feel it.

This week I was given a poem written by Naomi Shihab Nye. I drank in this poem with a writer’s thrist. Its been with me since I read it a few days ago. I feel compelled to share it here. If I were a poet, I’d wish to write like Nye.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I expect you will.  Oh, and to all the poets out there, thank you for writing.

So Much Happiness by Naomi Shihab Nye

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.

With Sadness there is something to rub against, a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.

When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up, something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.

It doesn’t need you to hold it down.

It doesn’t need anything.

Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing, and disappears when it wants to.

You are happy either way.

Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house, and now live over a quarry of voice and dust, cannot make you unhappy.

Everything has a life of its own.

It too could wake up filled with possibilities of coffee cake and ripe peaches, and love even the floor which needs to be swept, the soiled linens and scratched records…

Since there is no place large enough to contain so much happiness, you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you, into everything you touch.

You are not responsible.

You take no credit,

as the night sky takes no credit for the moon, but continues to hold it,

and to share it, and in that way, be known.

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