Happy 2012

I spent New Year's Eve on the elliptical in the gym then in the Jacuzzi like I did on Christmas Eve. By the time I got back, the Ball was about to drop in Times Square so I turned on the TV to watch it. I saw a little of the televised New Year's celebrations world-wide, from New Zealand (first), Australia (wow!), Japan (somber) China(interesting), Germany(not bad), London(representing!)to NYC (wish I could've been there!).

Then, before you know it, I was out like a light on the couch without ever seeing Los Angeles' festivities. I woke up at 12:43 A.M.and whooped "Happy New Year!" and crawled to my bed thereby fulfilling the toughest of my New Year's resolution; to be in bed before 2 AM every night which is hard because I feel at my best at that time-lol.

I spent New Year's morning being "chauffeured" to church by a friend from church( God bless you, M.C.!). I hugged lots of happy people at church and had hot cocoa and sliced banana bread. Then we had great praise and worship and a great sermon on surrender done by our guest speaker and the former and founding pastor of Ecclesia, Brandon Dickerson. Dickerson is a writer, producer, director but most importantly, he is a man of God.

Dickerson talked about how his faith was tested over the years but that it built his faith and his character. He quoted Psalm 3 and many other scriptures in between personal anecdotes and relevant scenes from the current movie he directed (it pays to have church in a theater). Then I got dropped home in time to sun pool-side as the temperature was in the 80s outside!

What a lovely New Year's Day, God and thank you, thank you thank you!

SIDE NOTE: Falling Stars of 2011
The industry lost some greats in 2011 especially stars famous in the 60s to the 80s like Elixabeth Taylor, Sidney Lumet, Jane Russeland the lovable but grumpy, Andy Rooney, from the long-running CBS TV show 60 Minutes. We also lost Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, from pancreatic cancer and soulful jazz singer, Amy Winehouse from a drug-related issue as well as legendary boxer, Joe Frazier, who died from natural causes.

Of all the losses, my heart hurts the most over the loss of Heavy D, of the group Heavy D and The Boyz, the chipped-tooth, smiling, rotund and lovable rapper-turned actor with a heart as big as his smile. Also known as "the over-weight lover", Heavy D revolution-ized the image of over-weight people in American media as he could out rap and out dance even the slimmest of performers. In fact, Heavy could be credited for breaking down barriers for other ample-size rappers like Chub Rock to be accepted by white audiences and for rapper-turned actor, like Queen Latifah to cross over into TV and film.

I loved Heavy's songs, especially my favorite song, "Now That We've Found Love" and the theme song he did for the ground-breaking 90s hit TV show, "In Living Color". He also turned out to be a very fine actor, too appearing as a guest star and then as a regular cast member for many shows. Heavy will be greatly missed by every "child of the 80s", like yours truly.

May they all rest in peace.