oi gente:

please pardon the sparseness of my posts lately, i’m trying to settle into my new digs in Salvador. i do have access to internet, so i’ll be able to update more frequently once i get settled and am able to start doing things. for more about my trip, hop over to mel do céu, otherwise, check me out here for other random musings.

well, my brain feels like it’s about to burst open, from writing and thinking in two languages at once. so…i’m gonna go now. ate mais.

hello good people:

today is the summer solstice! how appropriate that i have finally reached the 300th post, a nice round number to start on this new path in my life. i leave for brazil in four days, and for the first time in my entire life, i don’t know what to expect. well, i expect growth and change, but those are so abstract. i am a bit anxious and afraid, but mostly i am excited. i am almost ready to go. i finally got my visa this week and have started to say goodbyes. it still hasn’t struck me completely that i will be in another part of the world for six months. if anything, i think this trip will give me more courage. heh, i feel like i’m goin to see the wiz or something. anyway, like i said, today is the summer solstice, my favorite day of the year, and my own personal new year’s day. i’ve taken up the tradition of re-evaluating my life every june 21, to realign and re-calibrate myself. last year, i wrote a solstice blog about keeping my promises to myself to follow my instincts and intuition. i’m still working on that but i suppose i have made some progress. this year’s resolution is to push myself. i have noticed that i’ve become quite complacent in the last couple of years, not really putting myself in any kinds of situations that challenge me or incite growth. i’m really going to try within these next months to face some of my fears and anxieties, particularly those that involve building social relationships, expressing myself and connecting emotionally. i also want to challenge myself creatively and keep myself mentally sharp. i am ready to be more engaged in the world and finally conquer my shyness. those are just some things that i’ve been meditating on recently. what are some of your solstice wishes?

i suppose i should backtrack a bit, let you know what else i’ve been up to…well, here are some highlights:

1. i got a chance to catch up with Sonia, haven’t been able to see her for a while b/c of school stuff, but i made it over to her house the other day, and we chatted about writing and traveling. seeing her is always so magical and replenishing. it’s like she’s my poetic fairy godmother, always sprinkling blessings over me. her best non-sequitur: “i used to always wear my vests with long shirts underneath and my kids would make fun of me, teehee, but now you see all the young people wearing it like that.” i love her.

2. spent some qt with my beloved cuzzo and caught kid cudi and tiombe at the knitting factory. cudi was dope. i had never even heard of him before, but now i can’t get “day ‘n’ nite” out of my head. we also ran into stalley at alife earlier in the day. y’all know how much i love finding new artists, so u know i had to grab his mixtape.

3. met up with some other homies in nyc. went to the strand twice to satiate my bookish fever. picked up mumbo jumbo by ishmael reed, the book of other people edited by zadie smith, and dogeaters by jessica hagedorn. that makes 10 books that i am packing in my suitcase…

4. i’ve been slowly reading more of oscar wao, which reinforces my crush on junot diaz with every word. if i had no other reason to attend VONA, than to daydream and stare blankly at him, i would still go. i am a dork.

5. i bought a new camera: a canon sd1000. cost a pretty penny, but it’s a neat little piece of bite-sized technology. it’s less than half the size of my hand. it will go quite nicely with my flickr account…

the rest of life has been pretty much the same. i moved out of my apartment last weekend so i’ve been feeling kinda homeless, alternating between my dad’s sofa and my bro’s bunk bed for sleep but hey, no complaints. so there you have it: i’m feeling great, feeling good…how are you?

yup, i just realized that i only have about two weeks left til i leave for brazil. i have oodles of stuff to do. primarily, moving out of the apt and getting my visa. i need to get my life together! doesn’t feel like i’ve been too productive lately. i have been reading and writing a fair amount, getting myself in shape, you might say, to work on my project. but other than that, i don’t think i’ve been doing enough. i’m gonna construct an agenda for the next fourteen days that will keep me moving and shaking, and accomplishing things.

peace y’all