August 7, 2004

Hey guys, how are you. Things are going very well here. I’ve been filming and editing. Last night I went over the most recent footage I got this week and it looks great. I’ve also been working on some new songs. A few days ago, I sent some stuff for my mom’s friend’s son in Iraq. I packed a box of American and Jamaican type foods that probably aren’t over there (he’s Jamaican-American). The soldiers receive packages like that from their family and friends.

I had a great chat with my aunt In England this afternoon. She told me it’s hot in England today, which I joked about (really, how often can a Brit say “it’s hot today” - I’m just teasing).

Artist Of The Week

The artist of the week is George Jones. I saw an interview he did this week for the 700 Club and it was very interesting. His career has spanned 40 years and he’s had 165 top 10 records. That’s a lot of hits. He’s won just about every country music award there is, along with other industry accolades as well.

On the show, he talked about the problems he went through like his struggle with alcoholism. He said he prayed and asked God to help him because he was in such a state from the years of drug and alcohol abuse, the failed marriages with claims of abuse, that he stopped caring about himself. By God’s grace he’d cleaned up his life and things got better.

But one day he started drinking again after 10 years of sobriety. Sadly, he met in a serious car accident that very morning and it almost cost him his life. He had broken bones and a collapsed lung among other things. During the interview he also talked about singer Vestal Goodman praying for him. He said when he was in a coma he thought about her and woke up out of that coma asking for her. Little did he know that she had been praying for him that God would help him. He found out when he talked to her and she told him.

George has a new CD out titled “Mansion Over The Hilltop.” To visit his web site please click here.

August 12, 2004

Hi everyone, I’m here doing paperwork. I also have more footage to go over. I went over some more of it this morning. I have a lot of editing and processing to do on the latest stuff I got. I showed a few scenes from it to my mom and she likes them. There’s one scene in particular that she thought was really great and wondered how I did it – when it was really just a matter of timing by God’s grace. More on that later.

I spoke to my aunt in England today. They got the Olympic opening ceremony before we did (guess it's because of the five hour time difference). She said it was wonderful. I'm watching it right now and it is. They did a great job.

My neighbor broke her arm, so I’ve been helping her out with things like cooking meals and dropping them off, helping to clean up, throwing out the garbage and calling in her bills for her, as she can’t drive to go and pay them or write them for that matter for the next few weeks. She’s right handed and accidentally broke her right arm. That’s really tough, but she’s managing well by the grace of God.

Kids are going back to school now and parents are glad. My godbrother started high school this week and his mom called my mom crying because it’s an important day in her son’s life. How mushy! (-Aisha crying- my godbrother started high school this week, I’m so proud of him).

Things are going well for him. He really enjoys sports because most of his friends play as well – especially basketball. The other day, they were talking about each person’s role in the team. Each person said why they thought they were good for the team and when it was my godbrother’s turn to speak he joked, “I’m what every team needs, an athletic black kid.” Everyone broke down laughing.

It’s good that they can all laugh about that stuff and not take it seriously. The team is comprised of people of different colors and ethnic backgrounds. His best friend is from Columbian descent.

He and his teammates are still complaining about a certain basketball team in their league that a lot of people believe are too old to be competing.

My godbrother thinks they all look too old and too tall. He complained “One’s 6’2, ones 6’7 and ones 6’10”…yea, basically they lost to them, but only by 3 points.

They weren’t very gracious about it, though, and my godbrother kept saying things like, “They look too old. This isn’t the NBA!”
The kids were supposed to be 14 years old or in 8th or 9th grade to compete in that section of their league…and still contending they don’t look that age or meet those requirements, my godbrother sarcastically and exasperatedly wondered out loud “How many times did they get held back then?”

My godbrother and I talk and joke about stuff all the time. When he tells me about a girl that likes him, I go “so who is this little bimbo.” He laughs when I joke about them like that, but some of these teenage girls are really forward. He’s like my little brother and he’s young, so I’m a bit protective of him. He’s tall (5”11) so it makes him look about 17 and I’ve seen grown women looking at him (while I’m thinking, she must want me to drop kick her. But since I’m a Christian, technically I’m not allowed to just go up to people and kick them).

Recently, he asked me “Aisha, have you heard of the movie Rocky?” (I wanted to laugh so badly). It’s like when he asked me if I’d heard of this great show called the Cosby Show. He keeps finding old stuff, thinking it’s recent then telling me about it. At least he’s looking out for me by telling me about great stuff he’s seen on TV.

His mom and doctor are allowing him to train with light weights now to help him with sports. So of course he applied this to Rocky and hilariously said, “he wasn’t that buff in Rocky 1 and 2, but he was buff in 3 and 4.” Siskel and Roeper wish they could review movies like that. There was a Rocky marathon on TV recently and he watched all of them.

Artist Of The Week

The artist of the week is John Tesh, who is the former host of Entertainment Tonight. I saw a great interview on TBN today with John and Lauren Kitchens where he played videos from his wonderful CD and DVD "Worship At Red Rocks." That project has some really nice music. It's in stores now and I highly recommend it. To visit John's web site please click here.

I really enjoyed the interview he conducted with Lauren, who is a DJ with 95.9 The Fish in Los Angeles. She made me laugh throughout the interview. To visit the web site for 95.9 The Fish please click here.