January 1, 2003

H    a    p    p    y       N    e    w       Y   e   a   r  ! 

Happy New Year everyone and happy birthday daddy! I love you.

January 4, 2003

I had a great holiday and it feels great starting the new year. I'm really excited. I recorded another song for the soundtrack on Wednesday. It goes with the first film I'm shooting, which is an indie film. Writing the score was fun. Today I've been doing pre-production work on the film and making arrangements for it. It is a bit of work with different things to put together, but I enjoy it.

Thursday and Friday, I did work in the studio, mostly programming and editing. Today I did a lot of computer work. I did some work on a web site for a project. This evening, my friend and I removed carpet from a room in the house. We had to move the stuff that was in the room around in sections and rip up the carpet in large sections. I'm gonna refinish the hardwood floors in that room. I do like carpet, but and I think it would be best that the floors in that room remain hardwood.    

It's been a really great week and I thank God that it has gone so well. Have a good night. 

January 11, 2003

It's been another good week. This week I did a lot of paperwork. There is a song I need clearance for remaking and on Monday I started the process. The next step is to get the publisher to agree to a cap. I did work in the studio this week (songwriting, recording and programming). I've been working on arrangements for the promo tour as well. Yesterday, I started work on a new web site and I did more work on it today.  

I remember a show I saw once where the character said "the word free is not in a good manager's vocabulary." It's a funny line. Management is something I've studied for years as well. I have a management company that I started at the same time as the record company (there's an email link for it on this page). I decided in May of 1992 that I wanted to have my own music company with a record, management and production branch (I was 15 at the time). I still have the first sketches of it and the registration from a few years later. 

In a sense, I used it to house my work, which is basically what it is today. I have a lot of material by God's grace. It's wonderful working on it and getting it off the ground now. I'm really more comfortable with behind the scenes work like production, management and marketing. By God's grace, I've learned this industry and it's markets very well.

There are so many interesting music and film festivals coming up soon. I love festivals. It's a great opportunity to hear and see creative work. The competitions are interesting too, as they showcase new talent.   

A few days ago, I remembered how my dad taught me how to play tennis when I was a kid. I thought about it and it made me smile. Still, the only time you will see me at Wimbledon, is in the stands watching the games. He was a professional soccer player and he is very good at tennis as well. A lot of tennis players live in Florida, as there are great training facilities here and the weather is very nice. 

My mom's favorite sport is American football. She knows a lot about it. I don't usually watch football games, but she asks me to watch them with her sometimes or traps me into watching them like when I'm styling her hair and she's got the remote or when I'm cooking in the kitchen and the TV is blaring from the living room (just joking). However, I really enjoy watching soccer matches with her. I want to start a soccer team. It's my favorite sport. 

I visited a web site yesterday that had an article about finding the right mate. The article was informative and very funny. It had great tips and suggestions on finding the right person. I think you will enjoy reading it click here. 

I listen to WMCU Spirit FM a lot. It's a really good radio station here in South Florida. They play great music and air the show I mentioned a few weeks ago called Night Sounds click here. WMCU has a web site that you can visit click here.  

Hope things are going well for you. Even if they are not, don't let it make you too sad. God loves you. Everything is going to be okay. Have a good night. 

January 18, 2003

I'm having a great week. Monday and Tuesday I spent a large part of the day on the phone making business calls and doing paper work. Mostly legal/contractual work, advertising, promotional arrangements for the CD and scheduling arrangements for the promo tour. I've also spent a good amount of time on the keyboard this week testing out certain songs. Things are going really well. I'm very grateful to God for all the progress.

On Thursday I wrote 4 songs for an album I'm working on. Today, I wrote a few songs as well  and did paperwork. Right now, I'm finished working for today, I'm watching a soccer match and Liverpool is winning. 

I'm doing very well. I feel really good, very energetic and I've been getting my rest as well. Monday I did a lot of gardening for about 2 hours and it looks really nice. I removed the grass in an area of the lawn, planted some plants, then mulched around it.

On Monday, I spoke to my dad and little sister on the phone. My aunt is in the hospital with the flu, but she is doing better. Get well soon. My aunt is hilarious. My little sister has her sense of humor. I noticed that last year. I have a more conservative sense of humor, which can be a bit wry/ironic sometimes. My aunt and my little sister have the kind of sense of humor where they don't sugarcoat anything, but leave you laughing hysterically.

My aunt is an author, playwright and DJ (radio personality). She also does guest lecturing in different countries. She works very hard. I had the privilege of seeing one of her plays here at the Gusman Theatre in downtown Miami, for which she sent me tickets and it was wonderful. It was an excellent production. 

January 25, 2003

My dad was here for a few days this week. I didn't do much work for a few days since he was here. Most of the work I did was on Thursday and Friday. I set up an email address for my mom a few months ago, but she hasn't used it yet and keeps asking me, "what's my email address again?"  

Liverpool won the game I mentioned I was watching on Saturday. Sometimes, I wonder if they are cold on the pitch. The kits don't look that warm. I watched a few matches this week, Villa vs. Espanol, Man U vs. Chelsea and the Rangers vs. Celtic. Right now, I'm watching Arsenal vs. West Ham and it's a rough match -cough- Arsenal. 

It's been cold in Miami this week. It's warmer than the rest of America, but it still is a bit cold. I notice I get dehydrated quicker in cold weather.  When it gets cold, Floridians act like they are gonna pass out. They pull out all the extreme winter clothes, when it's just 60 degrees. What we call cold weather really isn't. 

This week I watched some of the Australian Open. Ironically, they wondered why three US tennis players were acclimated to the heat, while others were having difficulty adjusting. It turns out the three players were Florida residents. They were used to the heat and weren't bother by the Australian heat unlike some of the other athletes. Two of them even saying it's not as hot as in Florida. 

Tourists visiting here will call the weather hot and the residents will call it warm. It could be 90 degrees and the people who live here will say, oh it's warm today. I think it would have to be 100 degrees for them to acknowledge that it is actually hot here.    

Speaking of Florida, I'm tired of the Florida jokes saying we can't count. I resent that! We can count! 1,2,3,5,7 uh... -Aisha shifting the blame- besides, the problems really occurred in Palm Beach, not in Miami. I'm kidding, even if it is true (raspberry)... and to my friends and family in Palm Beach, I love you -Aisha says ingratiatingly to compensate for that joke-  

It's 2:40 am. I was just on a web site that said the temperature in Manchester, England is 45 degrees, and strangely, my computer says it's 44 degrees here in Miami. What? How can it be colder here than in Manchester, one of the coldest places in England. Just two days ago, it was in the 70's here. I'm enjoying the cold weather though. America is experiencing a cold front. It's 21 degrees in New York. Why am I writing about the temperature you ask? Well, I'm making arrangements for the promo tour and certain sites tell you the temperature in each city. 

January 27, 2003

Good morning guys! Hope you are doing well. I'm having a great morning. I'm really happy. I had a good week last week as well, thank God. This week I have to start finishing up my album. Like I said it's about 95% complete and I love how it sounds. Well, this week I'm gonna focus on recording the bits that are left to be done. The promo tour schedule looks great with a lot of cities. I was working on that this morning. 

For the past month, I've been working at night and sleeping in the days (yes, I'm back on that schedule again). When my dad was here, I stayed awake to make him breakfast, so I was awake longer than usual after working in the studio at night. Well, one of my friends came by one day last week and when I opened the door to let my friend in the house, I started squinting at the sun from out side...my friend took one look at me squinting, laughed and said "Aisha, it's called light." I thought it was a funny joke, even though it was about me -Aisha says resentfully- I'm kidding, I joke with most of my friends like that. My friend had a point though, sometimes with my schedule, I'm not used to being out at that time of the day when the sun is out. Some of my friends and family know this and tease me about it.  

Well, I've got to get back to work...and you probably do as well. Hope to speak to you soon. God bless.

January 29, 2003

I spent the morning working on some files in the studio and doing some internet work. I started recording a song this afternoon. That went well. I did more work on my album this week.  

I had pizza for lunch today. I heard a preacher joke once that pizza is the perfect food... that man is so wise haha. During lunch, I read more of a book I've been reading. It's a biography. I took a nap in the evening and now I'm back to work. It's getting warm again. It's about 70 degrees. The cold weather was nice though.