My Irish Alterego is back

Law and Order: SVU... January 17th... 10pm EST... NBC. Watch me be all doctorly next to Mariska Hargitay. I totally touch her in this episode. Physically definitely but I like to think spiritually as well. Nothing naughty or sweaty but I do pull rank on her a bit which may be entertaining for 5 seconds of "oh snap!"s and "oh no she didn't!"s.

Also, if you find yourself watching BET (I don't know why) or TBS (I really don't know why) or you live in the south (not going there), yes, it is me in the Bell South commercials complete with hotty husband and cute little magician son making my bills disappear. Do you like my hair?

BTW thanks, Mendi, for schoolin' me. Soon the world will be amazed by my witty weblog mastery.

More later. Wait for me.

Whatever I feel like doing, GOSH!

After the gentle nudge from an anonymous poster, I've decided to give the Tijuana update.

I just returned from home which was good and sad at the same time. We went for a ride around New Orleans East and the destruction is unimaginable. We started to take pictures but stopped after realizing that the pictures just didn't do the panoramic view of utter ruin justice.

Many of you may not know this from the news, but also while were home, the federal government issued the State of Louisiana a bill for 3.7 BILLION dollars for FEMA services to be paid in 30 days. In response the State and City officials then went to D.C. to address the Congress and plea for additional aid and some sort of relief from this bill since LA is already in the hole having spent their own reserves for reconstruction etc. This Q&A from the congressional committee that resides over these matters was televised in Louisiana and I wish everyone in this country could have witnessed the absurd proceedings. The fingerpointing and the obvious misinformation that the Congressmen and women were working with made me ill. In particular the way they treated Governor Blanco. I really feel like she was being pushed because she's a woman while Mayor Nagin was let off easy. If you're from Indiana or Pennsylvania, make sure you look up what your congressman said in this meeting. There were some really ignorant comments being made about the evacuation which had nothing to do with the proceedings. The meeting was a plea for additional assistance which was given by another "mother" committee presiding elsewhere. The committee was using a sort of "Monday Morning Quarterback" criticism about how to evacuate a city of 1.3 million people in 48 hours. The fact remains that you can issue a mandatory evacuation but it doesn't mean people will evacuate. Well educated, logical, people with means to leave stayed behind as well as those who could afford to go. You can't burst into people's homes and carry them out of the door if they don't want to go. We saw that DURING the floods when there were residents who still refused to leave even when gun toting National Guardsmen came to there doors and alligator infested, disease ridden water was pouring into their homes. Anywhooo, on a positive note, the free ticket return to LA date was extended from Dec. 31st to Feb. 2007 for displaced residents and the federal government has pledged 4.1 Billion dollars to replace the levee system to protect the city.

In Tijuana news, my Irish alterego, Dr. Marnie Aiken is now officially a recurring character on Law and Order: SVU and I will appear in an upcoming episode entitled Taboo which should be airing near the end of January. Check your local listings.

The "Red head Kaktabul" and I had a thought of a St. Louis reunion to welcome the little one to our family and the feelers are out to see how many people we can round up. Hold on to your placenta ,Bootsy, you may be in for a drunken surprise!

Recent events

In the past week, I have lost what little faith I had in our government but I have gained faith in humanity. What happened on the Gulf Coast is unimaginable and the late/lack of response is inexcusable. I hope some heads roll because of this.

For those of you wondering, my family is safe and accounted for. Life has changed for everyone and only time will tell how much. I'm trying not to stew in the tragedy anymore because that's just not productive. My heart is broken but I have to look ahead. Now, I'm looking at the good that has come from this. So many people have opened their hearts to complete strangers in response to this tragedy proving to me that most human beings are good at their core and will go above and beyond to help others in need. Our government's response is embarrassing but the people of this country seem to be picking up where the government failed and the blinders have been removed from many holy Bush supporters. I am cheering the media right now and this fantastic turnaround they have made. Suddenly they have BALLS! Great Big Ones! They're asking Chertoff and Browne the tough questions that we all want answers to and they are not letting them off the hook when they claim ignorance or try to shift off subject. That gives me hope that we are on our way to change in this country. And I don't worry about New Orleans anymore. That city will rise again.

On a lighter note... I will be on an episode of All My Children on Oct. 11th. I will be playing a nurse. Look for me!!

Damn, I'm slackin'!

So quick update...

Since last I spilled I have worked on yet another play for no money, Miss Julie, at NYU. Lots of fun actually. Good peeps involved. Made some new friends worthy of saving email addresses and phone numbers for a possible reunion out of context. Rare these days.

I have also recorded my first voice over for TV. Home Depot. It's called "Search Party." So if you see an actress with a messy garage think something about search parties... my voice, not hers. 15 minutes of my time, 5 takes, outty! Voice over work is SWEET!

I also laid down my first track. New musical currently in development based on the novel, Women of Brewster Place. For those of you who remember the mini-series from the 80's, I sang songs that Oprah's character, Mattie, would sing. I knew someday I'd be Oprah. My dreams are slowly coming true.

Soon, I will be off to San Fran to really lay down some tracks. Recording my first album. I know I told some people about this last year about this time but this summer it's gonna happen damn it!

What else... I went to St. Louis back in June. Visited the skipovich and geronimotron and sioux! Had a great time. Gosh, I miss those guys. Little know fact, St. Louis rocks! Fun city. Hidden jewel.

Michael's still cute. Still supporting my ass but at least I'm contributing with commercial gains now. Still no day job though. Soon. Don't hold your breath though.

It's a family reunion

I haven't paid much attention to this rusty ole blog since my plee for techno help went unanswered but since I have reuned with names from my past I will indulge. Anway, since last I wrote...I was on another episode of Law and Order and I booked an AOL commercial both of which have aired and are airing. The AOL commercial would be exciting except that it's like Where's Waldo to find me. If you run across the AOL commercial with the lady and the cake, look for the office worker that's walking and then stops. If it's a black girl in an absolutely foul pale green grandma suit, it's me. You can really only see my head and traces of the grandma jumper but the money is right. Did I write about this already? I don't remember. I don't read my own blog. That would be asking too much. Other than that, I've done a couple of "acting for food" jobs aka free gigs and I've done a whole lot of sitting around. That's really fun. I have a new hobby where I watch myself gain weight. That's getting old really fast. American Idol finals are coming up. That's HUGE in my life right now. Bo Bice all the way! My brother is currently training with some Canadian football team that will throw gobbs of money his way if all goes well. Michael's working hard, supporting my dead beat ass. What else... OH! How can I forget?! Today... I bought an office set! That's right. After almost 9 months of being on the floor, my computer is one IKEA delivery away from being an honest woman again! God I hope it all fits in my office! More to come...

Whew!

It's been a long time. It's not like a lot has happened in my life. I am working. Kind of . I'm working Wednesday nights in Michael's office. At least I'm contributing. Pilot season is proving to be yet another season of pain and disappointment for me. I guess the media still hasn't embraced the image of the African-American female. Until they do, I sit unemployed. No new developments in my little brother's pursuit of fame. He's training for the NFL combine right now and that's about it. He's put the acting thing on hold for that. I'm kinda glad. My ego was hurting a bit from all the wining and dining he was getting. Ugh! This feels like a chore. I'll stop now while I'm ahead.

YO!

So these things are weird right. I feel almost as if it's a personal diary and occasionally someone finds it hidden under my pillow and sneaks a peak. Only now I think not too many people peak at my goodies because they are bland and not so fun to look at. Let me rephrase that because really, if we must talk about my goodies... nevermind. MY WEBLOG APPEARANCE LACKS ORIGINALITY. You cannot possibly get the full effect of Ti staring at the blah of my weblog. If you're out there, help a blog ignorant chick like me learn how to do cool stuff to my blog like instead of "posted" blah, tell me how to make it say something cool and witty like "Tijuana gave her soul to you" blah. And instead of "comments" something witty and insulting like "bitchslaps and high-fives". Holla.