Sleepless in Puerto Rico

I can't sleep.  It is past 1am on a Sunday night and for the first time in a long time I am just up!  I'm sure not one but two cups of black sugar laden coffee at 7pm have something to do with this.  Also, I'm hungry.  But, its way too late to even go near the fridge so instead I'll write and hope that sleep comes soon after.

Let's see, what's new.  Well, today was a great day.  I went to church and helped produce a fundraiser/musical presentation for an up and coming Christian artist.  The dude is ridiculously talented.  I wouldn't necessarily be dubbed a Christian music fan much less a Spanish Christian music fan, but I think that alone speaks to his talent.  This fully bilingual, compelling song-writing, amazing voice-having, piano playing, young man has been blessed and somehow, as I find myself in a varied deja vu, I'm thinking that I may be too (blessed that is). See, a few years ago I was the artist and event manager for an up and coming underground MC.  Together we pushed to bring his dream to life.  We got a tour going, shot music videos, hustled for interviews and embarked on a mission to get his name and music seen and heard...all on a shoestring budget.  During that time I felt alive.  More alive than I had felt in awhile.  In fact, the last time I felt that amazing, I was pushing a community initiative in Philadelphia called "Project Peace".  The gun violence was out of control in the city and the radio station I was working for at the time decided we had a social responsibility to address it.  We used our influence in the community to increase an awareness and foster a consciousness that this had to stop and it started with each and every one of us.  Good times.  I think I was probably far too immature to really realize just how lucky I was to be apart of it all, but I can see it a lot clearer now.  Either way, those were my "alive moments" - career wise.  And somehow, I find myself here again.  An opportunity to be apart of something that can raise the consciousness of a community while being immersed in one of my truer loves in this life - great music.  Its too coincidental to be coincidental that I was hand picked to be a part of this "brain trust".  A humble group of five, all bringing something different to the table for one common goal: to help move this talent to a stage where his message can be heard, his music can be felt, his purpose can be realized. I'm trying to use the hard lessons I had to learn from previous experiences and turn them into wisdom-filled stepping stones in this latest chapter.  It's exciting and scary all at the same time - but I'm up for the challenge!

Mmmm Mango!

Wow I went from hungry to stomach growling, mouth salivating hunger!  I need to get to bed so I can wake up with time to make a delicious morning smoothie...yeah man morning smoothies are the bomb!  Benefit # 7,654 of living on a tropical island - fresh fruits like mangos and papayas!  Wait let me rephrase that, fresh, ORGANIC and FREE fruits like mangos and papayas (thank you family for your fruit trees) at your disposal.  So tomorrow morning, it will be one part coconut milk, one part ice, one part papaya, one part mango, a slice of fresh ginger, a dab of blackstrap molasses, a lemon mint leaf and a blender.  This is doing nothing for my present state of hunger but at least I have something to dream about now!  I'll try to take pictures before I devour this Morning Mango/Papaya Magic tomorrow...wait its 2am.  I mean, later today.  Ok enough is enough.  Coffee it is time to leave me be already because it is waaaay past my bedtime!!!!

PS - My hair is growing!! Not so sure how long I'll let it go, but I'm having fun with it right now so let the experiment continue!! I am so delirious right now...and so gonna pay for it in the morning...