j95_photo (1 photo), by Tricia Nelson

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Thank you, Jackson family

I spent the whole day yesterday listening to, watching and re-watching the coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial, which took place at the Staples Center in LA. I, along with my dad, shed a few tears, felt my heart leap when music and video temporarily reverted me to the obsessed tween I used to be, and experienced overwhelming sadness at this life gone too soon.

Today, I still have Jennifer Hudson's beautiful rendition of "Will You Be There" playing in my head, as well as Stevie's "They Won't Go When I Go." I absolutely loved the moment in the program when the Rev. Al Sharpton told the Jackson children, "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," I thought that was fantastic and apropos.

All in all, the event was everything I needed it to be. At first, I couldn't believe that the casket would be there, but in the end it made sense; this was a somber homegoing celebration rather than a star-studded daytime concert, and having that rose-draped reminder of our loss brought the needed gravitas and reality check.

I tend to get a little riled up at the haters, who crawled out of the woodwork, but none of their foolish words could take anything away from the day or the man that we gathered to honor.

I think Michael would've approved of the tasteful but grandiose worldwide celebration of all that was him. I thank the Jackson family for giving the fans that beautiful, sad, heartbreaking and impeccably produced farewell. I, for one, needed it.

And, I am happy that little Paris Katherine Jackson was able to find her voice through her grief and speak on behalf of her daddy. After all, every so often we all need to be reminded that Michael Jackson was so much more of a trailblazer, entertainer, singer, dancer, humanitarian, celebrity, personality...he was a brother, a son, a parent, a person.

Farewell, MJJ.

Still Heartbroken

One week ago I was in Salamanca, Spain, drinking sangria, dancing and partying it up on the last night of my experience at the VaughanTown program. It was late at night when one of the younger Spaniards turned to me and said that one of her friends received a text message that Michael Jackson had died. I dismissed it as rumor until I was in my hotel room a few hours later, ready to watch a little Boomerang in Espanol until I fell asleep.

That's when I learned that the terrible news was true.

Until I got back to the States, there was just a weird surrealness to everything, including the HORRIBLE, lacking coverage of that sorry excuse for a reporting organization, Sky News. I knew the reality of the loss would hit me once I got back to my parents' house.

The first thing I did after putting down my luggage was start looking for my Michael Jackson records, jewelry and paraphernalia. I found everything right away, then downloaded the single my friend, Cynthia, sent me via iTunes gift certificate, "Blame it on the Boogie."

Since then, I've been listening to his music, watching YouTube videos and feeling sad as the reality sinks in. Michael Jackson is gone.

MJ was the center of my world for an intense couple of years of my early teens. I was seriously obsessed in that screaming, hormonal girl-crying myself to sleep wanting to meet him- kinda way. More than that, I look back and realized that the Michael Jackson phenomenon was responsible for a shift that occurred when I embraced and became proud of my blackness.

Before that magical moment when I saw him perform "Billie Jean" on "Motown 25," to me, my race was more about painful history a la "Eyes on the Prize" and cultural burdens than it was about "black is beautiful." I distinctly remember thinking how I came to believe that my racial identity was a gift that I shared with some incredibly talented people that made me proud that night, and on all those subsequent afternoons and evenings for months afterwards when the VCR (or perhaps it was Betamax?) tape got a big workout every time anyone would come to the house to visit -- of course we had to show the tape and share the pride.

As I got older, I grew out of my Michael obsession and shifted my attention to Prince, then to other things. I came to mourn the Michael who inspired such emotion and passion in me, as the man he'd become had pretty much ceased to look, sound or act like the man I'd admired in the early 80s.

But now he's gone, and that judgment and disappointment has gone with him. I just wish his later years let him see as much joy as he deserved.

R.I.P MJJ.

Making a Difference, $8 at a Time

For the past few years, I've been involved with a great agency serving foster care youth in L.A. called Peace4Kids.

This summer, I'm hoping to help them meet a fundraising goal in order to be able to take the children they serve to camp on Catalina Island from August 21-24. I know this is a tough time to be asking anyone to contribute money to a cause, but I'm hoping $8 is doable for a critical mass of people.

If you can, I'm asking for contributions, which you can make at: http://www.firstgiving.com/tricianelson - $8 would be great, but anything you can contribute would be appreciated.

You can read more about Peace4Kids in an article recently published in the L.A. Times here, or consider becoming a volunteer and sign up at: http://www.peace4kids.org

Thanks for your support!

(Photo: Christina House for the L.A. Times)

The Trishness

I had a very full, very chill and fulfilling birthday weekend...starting with the LA Times Festival of books on Saturday, where I hung out with friends and randomly ran into a high school classmate (WTF??), then nosh and some vino at Craft on Saturday night; a leisurely ride along the Burbank bike path on Sunday (birthday) morning, a quick car ride down to Anaheim then about two hours until I was all checked in at the Grand Californian and had the chance to get my free birthday 2fer pass at the ticket booth; Disneyland with Denise; late-night solo wandering -- including the Enchanted Tiki Room -- before making my way back to my concierge-level accommodations; the early-morning power walk in Disney's California Adventure; Soarin' Over California and lunch before heading back to LA; a quick nap then out to "Inside Mad Men" at the TV Academy.


Packed weekend; good life.

Ingaliciousness

My first FlipVideo of substance: Ingrid, Elmo and Me.

Reflections

I've just been looking back at my Inauguration videos and pix, and taking a moment to reflect on the amazing and momentous shift we have experienced and continue to witness.

One of these days I'll take a chunk of time to really study this fantastic photo and find celebrities and friends:

Click here to link to GigaPan swearing-in pic.

Otherwise, here's some atmosphere from the Inauguration Concert:

Yep, I'll Get There

This is how I've been feeling lately. There's something equally terrifying and exhilarating about how uncertain things are (in the world, nation and my life) right now. My days are filled with obsessive Facebooking/Twittering/LinkedIn-ing, applying for jobs and trying not to go crazy from the echo chamber-like silence from all those prospective employers. At the same time, I'm relishing the opportunity to write, to ride my bike around my neighborhood, do home improvement projects and watch "Golden Girl" reruns and classic films on TCM to my heart's content. Although, at the back of my mind, there's that gripping fear that a non-volunteer job opportunity won't come along before the reserve cash runs out.

So, what's a gal to do? Learn to get "recreational shopping" pleasure from visits to the 99 cents only stores, make finding free things to do around the city a game, thank my lucky stars for life, health, food, clothing, shelter, friends, family and the ability to live in an amazing city fragrant with the smells of spring and night-blooming jasmine. Oh, and of course, to allow myself to regress every now and then. PBS and Sesame Street gives me that warm, homey feeling that everything will work out just fine.

16 All Over Again

Last night, I attended a screening of "Purple Rain" at the Arclight Sherman Oaks. It was a part of the AFI Music Documentary series, and was pretty well attended.

The print that was screened was an original - no pristine digital remasters here. But that was OK.

It's amazing how I reverted to my 16-year-old self while sitting in that theater.

Funny how I realized that I knew the movie WORD FOR WORD, and had to fight the urge to recite it at times (during Morris Day's lines, natch). As I was enjoying the show, I remembered how I would go home from school and, for a time, watch the movie on VHS EVERY SINGLE DAY. Carazy!

Twenty-four years later, it was cool to finally see the movie on the big screen. (I first saw the film at a friend's sleepover party, and that was a big scandale in my house -- my dad was against me seeing the rated R movie, even though he was the one to first bring home the album, and to pretty much cure me of my Michael Jackson fever.)

The music is still thrilling and amazing (I've gotta load all the PR tracks on my iPod; now I regret selling so many of my Prince CDs while I was "downsizing"), and Prince is still fab looking and proving that, all these years later, he is still very much relevant and kicks ass. I just might have to get back into the NPG/3121 fan scene and finagle my way to his next live show.

My Senior Crush

My admiration for and appreciation of the documentary "Young@Heart" and its subject, the Young@Heart Chorus, continues.

Last night, I saw their fantastic sold-out show at the Wilshire Theatre. What a treat! The chorus was great, and the audience showed them a lotta love -- a whooole lotta love.

I was waiting around after the show, and by chance wandered back into the theatre to see members of the chorus milling around and greeting fans. I took the opportunity to shake hands and get a little kiss from my new senior crush, Lenny. If you've seen the movie, Lenny is an 88-year-old Renaissance man; he sings in the chorus, performs with his church choir, plays the harmonica, hikes, rides with a cycling club and drives! Lenny definitely has growing fan club, and he seems to be enjoying the ride.

(That Stan, who spent part of the show performing from a wheelchair, seems pretty cool, too.)

Um, did I mention that you should go see the film?

Young@Heart -- Support this Film!

Earlier this week, I attended a special screening of the documentary "Young@Heart" at the Arclight Sherman Oaks, which was followed by a Q&A with the director, Stephen Walker. The film follows a singing group composed of senior citizens (average age: 80) as they prepare for their latest show, singing popular/contemporary/rock/punk songs. This film is so profoundly moving, all I can say is, please go see it, and take friends.This clip captures a particularly moving performance of Coldplay's "Fix You."

If, by some chance, you have a direct line to Bono, please convince him to allow Stephen Walker to license U2's "One" for use in a future edit of the film. The director tried and tried to make contact, but only got as far as the person responsible for mailing out form rejection letters. The inclusion of the song, sung by one of the chorus members, will make one particularly dramatic segment all the more resonant.

The Young@Heart chorus is actually performing at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills on April 17th. I'm getting my tix today!

More movie info at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart/

Young@Heart website: http://www.youngatheartchorus.com

Giggle Me This

He Had a Dream

OMG, this is hilarious. Reminds me of that episode of "The Simpsons" when the jazzman performed a 20-minute version of "The Star Spangled Banner" at a Springfield Isotopes baseball game...especially when El Jefe glances at his watch, oh so discreetly.

Weekend in San Diego

I took a train excursion down to San Diego this weekend with a couple friends/coworkers to participate in the Subaru Women's Triathlon.

We all opted for the "super sprint" - 375 meter swim/6 mile bike/2.1 mile run. I finished towards the end of the pack...I started out OK on the swim, but got nervous and a little lazy after getting to the first buoy. Ah well, I finished. I did exponentially better in the swim than my first tri, and, no doubt, the next one will be even better!

Rick-Rollin' Good Time

I don't know where I've been that I've only recently caught on to the Web phenomenon known as "Rick Rolling." The concept is easy ... someone does a search for something -- say, "three on three Dachshund action"-- then clicks on the top search result, only to land on a YouTube clip of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." Brilliant!

Perhaps I'm late to the RR game because I don't have time to do extraneous, subversive Web searching. Regardless, I'm glad I'm in on the joke now, because it gives me an excuse to link to the "Family Guy" clip above (which, I swear, I referenced a couple times in the last few weeks just because I thought it was clever). And, of course, I have to admit that I do love the Rick Astley song (reminds me of those fun and carefree days of my late teens), and enjoy the retro kick of seeing the video.

On a related note, you'd think with all that soul brimming from his voicebox, Rick Astley would've had some rhythm. Negative! Last night I watched George Michael: Behind the Music on VH1 Classic, and noticed that he rocked a lot of the same moves as ol' Rick ... George Michael didn't have much rhythm either ... go figure!

Anyhoo, my original point was that I do dig this song, and find the oh-so-'80s video kinda charming.

Where the Bleep Does the Weekend Go?

It's 11:14 on a Sunday night; so much for getting eight hours of sleep tonight.

Now that I'm a 9-to-5er (technically, an 8:30 - 5:30er), my weekends are way too hectic. There's just too much to do. Take this weekend for example:

Friday night:
Rush home after staying a little late at work so I can catch the premiere of High School Musical 2. (Enjoyed it, but not as much as HSM, but more on that later.)

Saturday:
Get to Lifeguard Station 26 at Santa Monica by 8:30 a.m. for triathlon team workout. Ride along the bike path and up one killer hill at Temescal (hour total), then walk (My bad back prevents me from running anymore) for about 40 minutes.
Run a couple errands, get some lunch, then crash on couch with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on TCM in the background. Skip screening of The Simpsons Movie in the Valley.
Get up, get ready for and drive to a birthday party for a friend in Santa Monica. Arrive by 9:45. It's a fabulous soiree with hottie bartenders out on a designerly backyard/patio of a recently remodeled home. I have one of the house martinis, then a couple waters and am home by 12:30.

Sunday:
Sleep in. Skip Farmer's Market and company picnic. Clean house, go swimming (1050 meter workout), then head to the Valley to run some errands and see a screening of The Bourne Ultimatum. It's the most attended TV Academy screening I've gone to in quite a while. As a result, I have to sit in the second row, and fight the feeling of seasickness for most of the flick.
Head back to the Westside, and stop in at my laundromat of choice to do three loads. Get home by 9:40ish.

I blew off/skipped so many things, yet I'm still exhausted. I'm almost looking forward to the week, which shouldn't be as draining as the weekend -- although I do rise at the crack of dawn most days so I can work out at my company gym for 30-40 minutes and shower/get dressed before heading into the office. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from the morning workout since I'll be going to a swim workout with the triathlon team at 7:30 p.m.

Yes, I've been working out a lot, but I have a college reunion that I'd like to look hot for in October. (plus a full triathlon I'd like to do in October, after September's Nautica Malibu Tri, so I need to be in tip-top shape.) I've also been eating well, and I hope I can keep it up.

Now, about my under-21 crush Zac Efron and HSM 2: I enjoyed it, esp, the "I Don't (or is it 'I Can't'?) Dance" number. The movie was very cute and extremely high-energy. But, I have to admit that I (gasp!) liked the original better. The songs were more infectious, and I do love that Drew Seeley's voice. For some reason, the movie producers used Drew for just about all of Zac's singing in the original movie. Although Zac has no problem carrying a tune (see Hairspray), and he insisted on doing his own singing for HSM 2. Anyhoo, I imagine that I have the same reax to the movie as all the other fuddieduddies out of the target demo -- and they echo those of the NY Times reviewer (especially the comment about the out-of-control use of bronzer on the cast. WTF?).

OK, enough stream-of-consciousness typing (esp. when I should be working on pages for my upcoming workshop critique). I hope I can get through tomorrow on just six hours of sleep...

I Got It!

Here is is, my "free" MacBook Pro -- all 5.6 lbs, 15.4 inch screen and 120GB of it! About 4 1/2 months ago, I started filling out offers through one of those marketing sites ("Get a FREE MacBook Pro!") so I could qualify for it. Yes, the process was tedious, required much attention to detail, and I have a pile of facial products, posters, language and Video Professor DVDs to try and sell on eBay, but I did receive my Apple laptop.

In the end, this baby cost me approximately $1450. Of that, about $102 was sunk costs (paying for subscriptions/services/products I didn't use; shipping costs); I used $383 in services (Disney DVDs, eMusic, Blockbuster, wine club shipments, restaurant coupons). So, you could say my actual cost was about $1056 -- even less if I get around to selling any of the $900 in unopened/unused products I now have.

I'm so jazzed, now I think I'll try for an iPhone! It's offered by these people: http://www.electronics-netpathreward.com -- just do a Google search for the correct link, spend some time on their questionnaire, then you'll land on their three levels of offer pages. Here we go again!

Fare Thee Well to FW

Parting is such bittersweet sorrow. Much more so when you're left hanging. Does Tanya Turner blackmail the lecherous owner of Earls Park down to his very last quid, or does he just go to jail for murdering Roger? Does Lucy have a biracial baby? Will Liberty ever model again? And, most importantly, what the dickens happened to Amber's (or as Conrad pronounced it, um-BAH) baby?

Those questions and more will never be answered, alas, because "Footballers Wives" was canceled before everything could be wrapped up neatly, or just explained away as Bob Newhart's ecstacy-induced dream.

Iowa on My Mind

Yesterday I returned from a week in Iowa City, where I attended the last session of the 21st annual Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I participated in a workshop entitled "Passionate Revision" led by a fabulous instructor named Lon Otto.

It's rare, I believe, to make new friends at my age, but that's just what I did. I spent the majority of my week bonding with amazing people who not only have a passion for writing and revision, but who have an appreciation for the writing process and compassion for fellow storytellers. What an honor and a pleasure to brainstorm, chat, converse and get to know them all.

And, after months of questioning my writing and wondering if I'm wasting my time plugging away at my novel, I received some much-needed validation, encouragement and advice from Lon. What a swell guy.

So, now I'm energized to continue with my project, knowing that I have a whole new set of friends to turn to for feedback and support. How fortuitous that I decided to go to Iowa and picked the workshop that I did. But, then again, I have the feeling that this was all in the stars for me.

Feeling a Little Restless

This is my last full week of "freedom" -- well, being as unencumbered as one can be when working 5 early-morning hours per weekday -- before I head out to the Iowa Summer Writers Festival then return to start my new full-time gig.

I'm super-cognizant of not "wasting" any of this precious time. I feel like I should be going for swims at the Santa Monica pool and going to spin class in the middle of the day or strolling random farmers markets or taking my beach cruiser out for afternoon jaunts. But, I haven't done much more than veg on the couch and watch TV (when not in front of the computer working) for the last two days.

I found out why I've been feeling restless yet unmotivated to make the most of my last hurrah.(Lunar cycles and all that jazz.) It's just as well, though. It's been seven months of this great hiatus. Of course, I didn't do everything I aspired to, but I did do a little bit of everything, so I have no regrets. It's time for me to get back on the career bandwagon...or at least focus on a solid job with good benefits for the time being.

And, though my new gig is not of the "sexy" entertainment-industry variety, I have a very good feeling about it, and about the people I'll be working with. They seem smart, capable and very decent. That may sound very basic, but given where I've come from, that's a luxury.

Best of all, after all sorts of sketchy experiences, it looks like I've finally gotten myself into a large company that isn't afraid or contemptuous of black people, evidenced by the sheer numbers. Besides my short stint at a black-owned and operated company (really, I have to pinch myself -- was that a dream?), I've found myself at companies large and small that I always gave the benefit of the doubt, although there were suspiciously low numbers of black employees, or my pay was suspiciously lower than colleagues with the same title and job responsibilities, or my title was suspiciously sub-par than that of co-workers with far less experience, educational background, job responsibilities and accomplishments.

Bygones. All those shitty job situations and bosses have made me a shrewder, stronger, sharper and smarter person. And, now that those lessons have been learned, I'm hoping this next job adventure will be a positive, wild ride with great rewards.

If not, at least the perks and the 401K plan are good!