My Mraz Weekend

Saturday started with a lazy sleep in. I rolled over to see a window full of blue sky and couldn’t help but just smile. I met a friend for brunch after a brisk walk down to the bridge and then headed back to the house to have a shower. I put Yes! on repeat and took my time prepping for the weekend ahead. It was glorious.

As I sat charging my phone, it occurred to me that I had not yet had a chance to write my letter to Jason. I do this usually because I know he’ll probably not have much time to chat and because I know I won’t say half the things that are on my mind when I see him. I start writing. Half an hour later I know why I’ve been putting this off - it’s the hardest letter I’ve written in my life. By the time I finally finish writing it I am crying so hard I can barely see. I tell him thank you, thank you for giving me the strength to get through the last two months of complete and utter hell. I write some pretty heavy stuff and trust that either he won’t get it or he will and will understand.

Afterwards I wonder down to the ferry stop to get a ferry to the south side of the bridge - where my hotel and the theatre are. I leave early on the off chance that I might see Jason outside the venue. I find the theatre and curiously look around, wondering where the stage door is and part of me wants to wait outside but it’s too busy to stop and wait around, I was also nearly 4 hours early for the show but too late to have caught Jason on his way in. Fortunately there’s a huge shopping mall across the road so I wonder over there and window shop my way through the next 4 hours.

I had dinner with the lovely Ghinny, there was this moment where I was walking through the shopping mall trying to find her and we spotted each other and we had this epic walk up and hug moment. It was so fantastic meeting her and her lovely friend Liv. After a nice dinner we kind of had to rush over to the venue (we had lost track of time) but luckily the foyer wasn’t as busy as some other shows that I’ve been to. The venue itself was out of this world. I was waiting in the line for merchandise and I spotted Jeff Coffman and I’m pretty sure my heart stopped for a moment. Seeing his face bought back the memories of the last show in Melbourne (and he’s a pretty damn good looking guy).

I had a great view and the show was outstanding! I have no words for how incredible it was. I was worried that I wouldn’t find the show funny or exciting because I’d heard all the jokes already from various fans in the US and UK but I guess when you’re there and caught up in the atmosphere and listening first hand - the jokes are still hilarious. Even though I sat there mouthing the punch lines word for word. I had a really annoying girl next to me who kept recording everything and freaking out over the stupidest songs (the usual I’m Yours, IWGU & Lucky crowd) her friends were endearing but I swore to myself then and there that I would never be the girl who recorded everything because it’s really annoying!!!!! I met up with the girls again after the show, Liv had to go home but me and Ghinny decided we would try our luck at the stage door and after asking a guy who worked at the theatre we found the door and stood waiting.

I was excited at the prospect of Ghinny meeting Jason. I’d had my time - my goal for the night was to get a hug and give him my calendars with letter. I stood there with them in my hands and all of the other people waiting got curious. I explained the whole Cats Who Look Like Mraz thing to them and they thought it was cute. I’m pretty sure a girl kind of asked me why Jason would be interested in them and I very proudly said ‘he has this year’s calendar hanging in his kitchen’. After that I’m pretty sure a portion of them started treating me like the leader of the pack. It was pretty cool.

Security were complete asses and made us move on to the street where they promptly shut these huge white doors so we couldn’t get back in. There were some pretty big gaps where the doors hinges were so we all peeped through. I saw the girls come out first followed shortly by Jason and we all yelled out to him (he nearly jumped out of his skin) I was pushing the calendars through the gap by he just waved and kept walking. We all went down to the other end of the alley way to see what was going on - just as the bus drove past us. I grabbed Ghinny’s hand anticipating to run after the van but I soon gave up. I was absolutely defeated. As embarrassing as it is - I was pissed off. I couldn’t believe that this guy who I absolutely adore took one look at me and kept walking away. I was  p i s s e d. It took at least 3 people to talk me around to reason. I’m not proud but I was absolutely shattered.

Myself and Ghinny spoke about her possibly coming back and trying again on Sunday night but it seemed unfair for her to come back in to the city on a whim that things might turn out differently. I offered to take her ticket and get it signed if I met Jason and would return it to her regardless of what happened.

I spent Sunday out and about. I went to the aquarium and managed to walk from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay without getting lost. I also stumbled upon a gorgeous market that was happening at The Rocks before I was promptly saturated in rain. After that I took a taxi back to my hotel so I could get ready for the show. I was front row for the show so I put on my favourite dress, spent a little bit of extra time on my hair and makeup and then headed down to grab another taxi to the venue (Sydney taxi’s are actually a hell of a lot cheaper than Adelaide taxi’s and I have to admit it felt a little bit like I was in Sex and the City just hailing cabs all the time).

I was about half an hour early, they had only just opened the door so I wondered in and had a better look around the venue itself. Part of hoped I would see Jeff Coffman again so I could give him the calendars so I could be sure they would get to Jason. I was leaning against a wall, ever so casually, just scanning around the room for a familiar face and simultaneously chatting to Evie on Whatsapp. I was about 75% sure I saw Jerry at one stage, but, I wasn’t confident enough to go up and ask a guy I’ve never met before if he’s the guy I’ve heard about.

I was just about ready to give up when I glanced up and spotted Jeff Coffman. It was a bit over dramatic - my breath caught in my chest and my hands started shaking. Just as soon as I’d seen him, he’d disappeared again. I suspected he had walked out to the front of my building. I contemplated following him - would it be creepy? How was I ever going to pluck up the courage to strike up a conversation with this - let’s be honest - absolutely gorgeous human being. If you ever read this, Jeff, I hope you’re flattered but how flustered you had me. Looking back now, I know how risky it was going out after him. On my way back in the guy tried to scan my ticket and the machine made a beeping noise to say my ticket had already been scanned - thank God he recognised me.

So anyway, I wondered out to the street and leant casually against a wall to the right of the entrance and tried to spot Jeff again - he was across the road getting a shot of the entrance. He came back over and was kind of standing in the entrance filming a little bit and he looked over at me, naturally, I avoided all eye contact. I gave him the kind of look that you give people who are looking at you and he looked utterly confused. He said ‘have I met you before?’. Now I have no idea how I managed to be so damn together at this point, the words tumbled out of my mouth - ‘um, you’ve filmed me before’, and as if the situation couldn’t get anymore ridiculous he said ‘oh yeah, in Melbourne!’. I made a joke about how he must have recognised me because he’d spent hours working with frames of my face, he laughed it off with ‘not that many’. He asked me how I was and I think my brain stopped working. He asked me if I had flown in from Melbourne and had been to the show there, I told him I was actually from Adelaide and had to explain to him how far away it was. Just as I was about to walk away, I remembered the damn calendars. I put what I hoped was my best suck-up smile on and asked if he could do me a favour, he said yes and then I gave him the calendars. I explained that Jason knew what they were and he just looked as perplexed as ever.

The show was phenomenal - so many old songs and a fairly rowdy crowd. Raining Jane ‘whored’ out Chaska and it was absolutely hilarious. Chaska shared her first experience with Australia and how she cried when she had to leave. I’m definitely sure that she is officially my girl crush. I sat next to some lovely girls who chatted to me during the ‘inner mission’ and we discussed the possibilities of him playing Geek in the Pink - I shared with them how he told a friend of mine that he would never play that song again. It just so happens that one the first few songs after the break was Geek - I nearly fell off my seat.

In terms of interaction - he was hilarious as usual it certainly wasn’t the same as it was 18 months ago in Melbourne where we had moments when were singing to each other but in a way, that’s a good thing. There’s no point going to a show if it’s going to be the same all the time (that and I could actually breathe this time). I was able to just sit back and enjoy he show this time instead of having my best friend standing next to me just challenging me to prove why I had just flown to a different city to see my favourite man in the world - I didn’t have to prove myself this time.

A few people look at me strangely sometimes when I say I’m going to a concert by myself - I went to John Mayer and Sara Bareilles by myself - but I think I definitely enjoy shows more when I’m by myself. I’m nowhere near as rowdy and I actually give myself a chance to enjoy the subtle nuances - little things like harmonies and a certain guitar riffs. I’m nowhere near as starry eyed when I’m by myself. And there certainly were a lot of little moments to enjoy on Sunday night. Sleeping to Dream… Be Honest… 5/6… Geek in the Pink… Song for a Friend… so many stunning songs that I thought I’d never hear live.

When the show ended I dragged myself out the door to wait at the stage door - only this time I had no calendars so I wasn’t entirely sure what I would do if he came out. I leant against the wall trying to look like I was meant to be there - it was easy, I was the only one there. The security guard looked me up and down and said hello and asked how I was, I gave him my sweetest smile and told him I was good. He asked if I was there to see Jason, I grinned at him and said yeah I am. He looked around to see if anyone else was listening and said ‘I think you’ll have better luck waiting at the end of the alley way, otherwise you’re just going to end up on the other side of those doors again.’ I thanked him profusely and started to make my way back down the alley way. I ran in to a couple that I’d seen during the show and remembered from the last concert in Melbourne. They asked if we had been kicked out again and I filled them in. We waited in an alcove in the alley way but when the van came in to pick up Jason we were asked to move out on to the street.

We were all busy chatting about things, joined by a woman who I think was a little bit intoxicated (I’m not sure). We saw Becky come out and this woman yelled out ‘come down and sign shit’. They were still chatting away and I was a little bit too tense to really join the conversation, my eyes were on the van parked 10-20 metres up the alley way. I saw a figure walking down towards us in a white shirt and truckers cap. My brain was slow - I recognised this person despite the fact his head was down and suddenly the words spilled from my mouth - ‘it’s Jason!’.

I’m pretty sure time slowed down as he walked towards me. My mouth took over, my brain lagging behind by a minute or two. I was the first one waiting for him, having taken a few inadvertent steps towards him. ‘Can I have a hug?’ I ask. He didn’t even skip a beat as he engulfed me in the biggest hug I’ve ever received from someone. It was fierce, the kind of hug that makes you feel so damn safe. And I did, I felt safe, and at home. It’s so damn cheesy but that hug was the one thing I’d been torturing myself with for the last 18 months, how I’d never gotten to hug him because of that damn fence between us and it was warm and I’m going to stop talking about it because it’s going to make me cry.

I had my hard copy of Yes! in my hands and I gave it to him to sign. I ask him, ‘did Jeff give you the calendars?’ he pauses and looks at me a little wide eyed, ‘I did! Congrats on graduating!’ It was deja vu. He had hit me with something I wasn’t even expecting, again. Those damn letters. I stare at him and then a smile breaks over my face, ‘you read that already?’ he smiles, ‘yeah’. We look at each other for a few seconds and it sinks in as I remember writing to him about all the shit that had happened in the last 2 months. I still cry thinking about the way he looked at me, like he had so much he wanted to say but all I could do was stare, absolutely awe struck at this human being standing in front of me. The one person who was able to comfort me over the last 2 months and he knew it and just the look that he gave me told me that he was there for me, no matter what. He knew he was my strength, and he wanted to be that for me as well as a look of sadness at my pain. It was breathtaking. All I could do was tilt my head back and say ‘that’s so good’.

He kept signing stuff for people. Since I was first in the crowd it somehow ended up that I was standing next to him and everyone else was crowded in front of him. Like we were in our own little bubble. I remember that Jeff is filming just behind Jason and I turn to him and just mouth the words ‘thank you’. At this point I could have just kissed the guy - he was my saviour after the first night of security hell and just thinking I was never going to get those damn calendars to Jason.

I also managed to get my head together enough to get Jason to sign Ghinny’s ticket and ask him about the Cats Who Look Like Mraz tshirt that Evie gave to him in the UK. He was so sweet. He laughed about it and said he thought it was great that we had this little group of us around the world - I’m assuming he was still feeling a bit tickled by his FaceTime with Mona (it’s not every day you get the chance to speak to a fan in ISRAEL). I also asked him if we could take a selfie, which he agreed to but said it would have to be quick. He kept signing stuff and just as Matt was saying it was time to leave I asked again and we got the best picture together. Unfortunately, this cued every other person in the crowd to ask for selfies, which he sadly had to refuse. I thanked him again and he walked away and I tried to push my way through the crowd to get my taxi back to the hotel because my phone was dying and I was exhausted. I had just enough battery to attach my selfie with Jason to the whatsapp conversation with the girls, unfair since I couldn’t reply to their numerous questions.

Back in the hotel room I crawled in to bed and tried to go to sleep but soon realised that it was never going to happen. I was buzzing. I went and plugged my phone in to the bathroom plug (also the only plug that my charger would fit in to) and turned on my hotspot so I could chat to everyone on Facebook. After retelling the entire story I sat there quietly with the most stupid grin on my face. And then I cried. And cried. And cried. I remembered the letter and the look on Jason’s face and I just thought to myself ‘is this it? Is this what you were waiting for before you could move on?’. The answer, of course, is no. The moving on will come in February when I go to South Africa - coincidental since Jason is in the country playing shows at the same time as I’m there, not in the same city though and flights to see him just aren’t an option. God knows I’ll need him then but I’ll look down at our photo and know, he’s only a thought away and I can look forward to the next time I get to thank him for holding my life together.

After a little bit more sightseeing on Monday I headed to the airport. I’d rather be waiting there for 5 hours than be wondering around the city. I also had work that needed to be done for some clients. Just my luck my flight was delayed, but, God knows I had enough going on in my head that I didn’t mind at all.

But it’s still nice to be home.


And if you’re still with me, thank you for reading this (I’m sorry if there were typos and sentences that didn’t make any sense).



Much love and gratitude,
Marchelle

What's up?

Soooo here's my first time posting to the blog in I don't even know how long!
Let's see what's new?
I got my dream puppy. Since I was 10 years old I've wanted a pug named Pickles. Don't ask why, I don't know. I was a strange little 10 year old. But anywho, I am now the proud owner of a pug named Pickles! He's pretty great. He has great taste in music. We listen to Mraz everynight before bed and he wiggles his head around and we play it in the car on the way to the vet and it relaxes him. Well, that and a belly rub.

I've had about 5 or 6 surgeries since I last wrote on here I think?
Of course the man has helped me thru those tough times. The surgeons put his pandora station on in the OR, I listen to him before and after, watch some youtube video's, concert DVD's, etc. I honestly think without his songs and just overall awesomeness I'd be kinda bummed out about all this. Instead of looking at it all as A Beautiful Mess. I mean, The Remedy is a big part of what helped me from being totally depressed on my 16th birthday in the hospital with pneumonia. Him and great family and friends of course. Turned out to be one of my best birthdays. I got 2 parties, one at the hospital and one when I got home, and double the presents from staff and family! And 2 free cakes! Can't beat that!
I also enjoyed making 2 of his super fans (who are staff there) freak out when I brought in my signed copy of LIAFLW. I got one of those 150 signed copies. I only got one because I was up late being real sick and well, mom was on the phone with dr.'s and packing for an emergency trip, and I was asking her for her paypal in order to get a signed copy. She thought I was crazy but hey I got one! Seriously everyone at my hospital knows my love for him so well. If I'm real out of it after surgery (this has happened more than once) one of my dr.'s will come and ask me Jason Mraz trivia to see how out of it I really am. Even all loopy I can answer em all!
This summer has been good! I had tons of fun participating in Spread Yes! So did my mom! This was my favorite thing I did. My moms brilliant idea!

I got to go see Jason and Jane in November! I also got to meet some of you lovelies for the first time! Jam after five years of talking I finally got to give you a big hug! I also got to give Philly a piece of art and poem that I've wanted him to have since I was 13! There's an art program at my hospital called Snow City Arts and I was hospitalized the week before my first concert, (I also put off surgery against dr.'s orders to go to my second mraz show. Oh the things I do for that man) they came to me with a project where you have to choose to be inside something and then write a poem about it. I chose to be inside J's hat! Cheesy I know but hey. Philly messaged me that he loved it! So naturally that's the highlight of the year. Picture and poem are below. Remember I was 13 so the poem is no Shakespear haha.

 MR.A-Z
I'm inside a hat but not just any hat people, the hat of Jason Mraz.
Inside his hat constantly plays his greatest songs such as "I'm Yours",
"Lucky" and many more.
It is ver bright and happy, filled with flowers and animals, and a lot of nature.
It is very hippy in here!

Well that's about it with me. Pugs and Mraz. What more could a girl need?

With love,
Dahlia

Stuff and things

Well Hello There!

A lot has been going on with me since the last time I posted (I don't even remember when that was....)
I am less then a year away from finishing an associates degree in Health Informatics... thinking about going to OIT (Oregon Institute of Technology) for a Bachelors Degree in Health Informatics.  It means more school.. but I don't want to end up working retail until I can hopefully retire someday. I see these older ladies at my current job so bitter about about everything. I do not want to end up being one of them.

Work is going really well. Last year I trained to do Customer Service and in September I learned how to do the bookkeeping. Checking is difficult for my anxiety and my introvert personality. I like working independently, yet still part of a team.  There is one person at work who is really getting on y nerves... I guess we all end up having that one person that makes you cringe when they talk to you. When he opens her mouth to talk.. all I hear are the parents from Charlie Brown. Trying to be calm and nice about it because she is one of those bitter ladies I was talking about.. but everything has to be about her.  She uses people to get a step up. I'm sorry.. she has thrown me under the bus many of times. It hasn't worked to her advantage, but the fact that she tries and then acts like  her poo doesn't stink.... no way. Argh!

My Anxiety is completely in control. I feel peaceful now.  I can function. I have my independence.  I finally feel like a normal, adult, functioning in society. 

Jym and I are in the process of the proper paperwork to get married.  Its easy, just a pain in the ass to wait around for it.  No wedding date yet, but I will be Mrs Stock by the end of next year.  Why couldn't he have been born in America... would have made my life easier. lol.

Saw Jason last month in Portland. IT WAS AWESOME. Didn't get to meet him because he left to go home right after the show.. but we did meet Mai, Becky and Tina. :) It was awesome.

Well, that is the latest!
-Amy

Time

I haven't posted to this blog since 2010...that was 4, soon to be 5 years ago! And so much has changed, it's still unbelievable for me to grasp it all. I'm not going to re-type how Jason touches/inspires me, you can read my old posts by searching "sedeechee" in the tags, or think of how Jason touches YOU, because it's the same for me, as with us all. So instead, I'll just write about me. Just me, plain and simple. Later on, I'll post about the magical and surreal experience of meeting Jason, but not tonight, there will be plenty of time for that later :) 

So an update: My name is Christine and I'm 24 years old and will be turning 25 in less than 1 month on 12/7. And I'm scared and upset at this. I'm halfway to 30 and my life has simply gone nowhere and I'm extremely unhappy. (This is going to start sounding depressing, so buckle in!)

I can't remember the last time I felt bliss...oh wait a minute! Yes I can, it was back in July when I met Jason and some of you incredible girls and I was on cloud nine. However, after that weekend, it was back to reality. Back to my lonely life near Scranton, Pennsylvania where I'm still living at home with my parents. And I'm unhappy. I don't have many friends left in this area, they've all moved away to start/continue their careers. The friends that ARE left here, I don't see very often because they're working, like myself, and making time for your social life sucks as an adult. I also feel lonely because I don't have a guy. And I know, I know, you don't NEED a man to be happy or feel fulfilled, but damn, it would be nice to have/feel security and companionship! And it's not like I haven't tried. I'm on Tinder, I've tried other dating sites(for maybe a week before I got creeped out/disgusted and I deleted it), and I'm just not compatible with anyone. [Side note: last time I wrote in here I was dating my ex-boyfriend in college who was going overseas with the Army and that's 1000000% DONE. I don't even speak to him anymore. Shortly after our official breakup in late 2012, he began dating a girl he met in one of his classes and they're still together to this day. Honestly, I'm happy for him. I think she's making him happier than I ever could, they seem very compatible together in all their adventures I see on Facebook >:) ] 

Deep down, I also DON'T want to meet anyone, because I NEED to leave home. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED that I have a decent-paying, semi-in-my-field-of-work job! BUT it's not what I want to do with my life. I'm working, literally, 7 minutes from home and although that's a great thing, it's almost TOO great. For almost a year and a half, I've let myself settle in this convenient state of my life where I'm going through the motions "just because" and I'm going no where. It's getting to the point where as soon as my ass hits the chair at my desk in the morning,....I'm ready for it to be 5:00pm and I'm checking out. The day hasn't even started yet. And I used to like this job! I thought that the work I was doing was making a difference and I felt passionate to be productive and accomplished. But now there's nothing left and I KNOW that I need to move on. But how can I? With money. I need a LOT more money. 

The reason why I haven't moved out of my parents home, the reason why I don't have a boyfriend/relationship, is because I can't afford it...yet. I should have been more responsible and started saving earlier. But I didn't and here I still am. I really am starting to save more and I've estimated that I can move out of here comfortably around the Spring/Summer 2015, God willing I can find a job! Which leads me back to friends. 

The friends, my "family" that I had in 2010 when I last wrote are all still the same...and living 4 hours from me. My college friends are living in/around Baltimore, Maryland and I go to visit them about once a season. I was just there in early September and every time I go, I feel "complete." I know it kind of sounds cheesy, but it's true. My heart is lighter. I laugh and I smile because they bring out the best in me and I'm HAPPY. I love the area, and it's affordable to live there if I continue to play my cards right. I could get into this further, but I'll stop here. For now, my main focus is to keep saving enough money to move away and start my career the way I want it to be and to be HAPPY. 

The final reason for my unhappiness: my weight. I've struggled with my weight all my life. We all have, it's just what females do/think. I know it SHOULDN'T be this way, but when I can't fit into last season's blouses for work, and my bra band barely latches...I have a problem.

I think it all started with taking this new job at a desk. I used to work in a grocery store, constantly on my feet and walking/bustling around so that kept the weight off. Now I'm just a bum that sits all day. Earlier this Summer, I had started the Nutrisystem diet. And it was working! I was on it about 2 months and I was taking my dogs for walks and running on the treadmill. But then my sister became critically ill. She was in multiple hospitals since July and only FINALLY was discharged and returned home at the end of October. During her admissions, I fell off the wagon due to stress and the timing just wasn't right to keep on the diet and fit in exercise. Now that she's home and healthy, I jumped back on this diet wagon with full force. I'm tired of being unhappy, I'm exhausted from being discouraged from buying cute clothes at the mall that I know ahead of time won't fit me, I'm fed up with not feeling sexy anymore. I NEED change. 

IN CONCLUSION! How this alllllll ties into each other and everything comes full circle!: Jason has taught me positivity. Because throughout everything, including this super long post about my unhappiness, I really AM happy. I'm GRATEFUL that I HAVE a job, that I am HEALTHY, and that I DO have friends and family who love me. Since following Jason and listening to his music all these years has transformed my attitude, demeanor, and outlook on my life and those around me. If I never found Jason, if I never found you guys, I don't know what kind of person I would be and that's terrifying to think about. Jason has made me a better person, even if it doesn't show all the time, his influence is always, and always will be, a part of me.

Warmest love and wishes, 

Christine<3

P.S. If you read this whole thing, bless you.

--

Christine DiChiara

Marketing Coordinator for CareGivers America

Freelance Graphic Designer

www.caregiversamerica.com 

www.behance.net/cdichiara

Slavery sucks!

Hey mrazwomen, i've been thinking about things to share in this blog and as I am so focused on my final paper at college i can't think about anything else. But the fact is that it was Jason who inspired me to pick my subject Slavery! Yes, my final paper is about Slavery in farms all over my country(Brasil) and ways of ending it, through the law.

I've been searching the subject for all those years, since Jason first talked about it, when he was engaged to Free The Slaves and all, when he first sang "Freedom Song" to those former slave kids in Ghana.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2D9XN1Hzjas" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Freedom

You deserve your freedom

Dancing and feeling that beauty

Freedom

Well it's all for you

All for you, all for you, all for you

Sing FREEDOM" ~ Freedom Song

Recently Free The Slaves started to work with two very important organizations in Brazil who works hard to end slavery for a very long time and also fight for punishing those who enslave people: CPT (Comissão Pastoral da Terra, linked to the catholic church) and Reporter Brazil, both used as a sources to my studies.

Well, i'm so happy with where my final paper is going, it's almost finishes and i'm really thinking about inviting as many people as i can to watch it, so i can spread the message to the biggest amount of people. I feel like it's my moment to help informing people about this horrible crime that keep happening in our world nowadays. It's so sad to know that for buying the wood for my furniture, a man has been kept as a slave, working in very bad conditions, drinking contaminated water, sleeping in a very bad facilities.  And the worst thing is knowing that many people think that slavery doesn't exist anymore, or had been made to think that cause it's easy that way, but it make invisible the suffering of those who had been in that situation. And it's even worse to know that many people take advantage of the lack of knowledge about the subjet to decieve people and pretend that this felony doesn't exist and people who fight against it are crazy to believe in a thing that they call an "invention created to end capitalism".

In Brazil, an amendment of the Constitution added the loss of the property in wich they find workers in slavery conditions, it was approved this year and it's the final part of my work. I'm happy that we made it so far, it's a big step, but there are forces against it, forces that will do it's possible for making the amendment useless, and take away it's power, forces that take advantage of the suffering of those workers and that didn't like the fact that they might lose their land if they find that they are enslaving people.

I just want to thank Jason Thomas Mraz for being such an inspiring figure and for introducing me to such an important thing to fight against. 

Love,
Ana Diegues.

MrazWomen: Road to remembrance

It's been ages since anybody has posted on this blog. Partly because blogging is such a tedious process (you have to think of something clever to write because you never know who else out there is reading/criticizing your thoughts and/or ideas), and partly because Blogger is passé. Facebook is the new "it" place to converse with as many people as you can (who knew you actually knew a thousand or so people?), any time you want.

While I am a hundred percent guilty of checking Facebook on my phone every 5-10 minutes, guilty of posting one-word explanations to shared links and even guilty of posting photos as comments, I'd like to think my brain is still capable of typing out a thousand words ala Carrie Bradshaw. So here's me trying to revive my habit of writing (which I claim to love with a passion but have not done in a long, loooooong time) as well as this old blog.

Ahhhh, this blog. The birthplace of my beloved brainchild: a community of like-minded individuals who are in continuous awe of Jason Mraz, the man and the musician. We have come a long way, haven't we? Personally, all I have to do is click on the MrazGal tag and I can take a quick trip down memory lane and see what kind of person/Mraz fan I was then. What I really want to reflect on, however, is not what I or we used to be like as a fandom but how we are now, as a network of strong friendships that hold each other dear. Which is pretty goddamn awesome.

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[moment of reflection]

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The MrazWomen are some of my best-est friends in life, and I am incredibly and utterly grateful that they have chosen to be part of my little online family - both those who have known me from the very beginning and those whom I have only become acquainted with recently. All I've ever wanted was someone to share my story with - the story of where I came from and where I'm going - and I definitely hit the jackpot with these gals.

That's all I want to say, for now. More random thoughts in the next coming days.

♥

Jam

Who Am I?

Ok ladies, I just need to talk this out. You know when there comes a time in your life when there are signs and suggestions all over the place for doing or changing something in your life that you had just been ignoring but then all of a sudden the signs start becoming really loud? This last week has been really weird for me like that.

First of all, there has been all of this talk about moving to San Diego. Some of it is half joking, but it has really got me thinking! I've ALWAYS wanted to live near an ocean in a warm climate. I've staying in the Midwest because of family. I've actually been looking up information and from a job/ housing perspective is totally doable. Then I've had this strong urge to learn to play to guitar (who knows I've never played a musical instrument in my life). And then the whole coversation with my husband about loving summer weather and needing to move to a place that only had summer (like San Diego). Well two more things happened.

Last night, I was watching SYTYCD and was talking with my husband about different dancing and how I can appriciate and like the abstract contempory stuff and he just doesn't get it. Then we got to talking about how for an 'engineer' I am a very artsy minded person. And I said, yeah you know the more artsy things I do, like painting, dancing, going to more shows, the more 'artsy' I feel. Then he said something that kind of stuck with me: 'Well, maybe that's just your true self finally coming out".  This is something I have been struggling with for a LONG time. Even back in highschool. I loved art, and photography (especially photography) but I 'knew' that I couldn't really make a living in any of those. So I chose the electrical engineering path for school.  I figured I liked math too, so I could do it. My husband and I continued to talk and he said that he's glad that I am also logical minded because otherwise we wouldn't probably be together. But now I'm starting to wonder, am I really doing what I was MEANT to do?

Then this morning I see a Jason Mraz Friends post on FB. It said:

Transformation is my favorite game and in my experience, anger and frustration are the result of you not being authentic somewhere in your life or with someone in your life. Being fake about anything creates a block inside of you. Life can’t work for you if you don’t show up as you.
Jason Mraz

So, now I'm in the middle of a little mid life freak out! Everything in my heart says " Move to San Diego with the family, go to art school and get a job as a photographer or graphic designer or something and learn to surf and play guitar and all of that" Then my logical self says, "no, you and your husband have great jobs, a beautiful home, friends and family near by, kids love their school and neighborhood, and all of these other reasons why I stayed in Indiana in the first place"

I know I have to talk to my husband about this. I know the 'easy' answer is to just do nothing. Continue what I've been doing. But then I have the 'what if' moments.

Thanks for letting me get this all out. If feels so much better talking about it. Not, that I know what I'm going to do, but now I'm thinking about it.