This morning I woke up early to go to Habitat for Humanity. My friends and I were told to go to a Church, and from a distance you could not tell it was a Church. It was so run down that if I had leaned my hand against on its walls it would probably topple over. Behind the Church was a cemetery for Native Americans and African Americans. And our job was to rake the leaves, pick out all the weeds, gather all the branches, and straighten up the graves. Meanwhile I thought we would be building houses for the poor like we did last time. The stench was horrible; I could not put my finger on it. Later I found out that it was onion grass. I want to know who puts a graveyard on soil filled with onion grass! So after pulling the weeds out, I decided to rake for awhile. As I was raking there was a mound of dirt, and it looked like the grave had just been covered. This was odd because the date read July 12, 2001, and her name was Anisa. I guess my eyes played a trick on me, because I read Anita, and since it is the same day as my birthday… it still makes me shiver when I think of it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I got scared again when I was picking up leaves. There had been a large branch underneath it. So my friend came up behind me and he stepped on the branch which shot right out of the leaves! It looked like someone was coming out of the ground. And that is when I decided that we should leave. Four hours at a cemetery will really get to you.

After a very depressing afternoon, I came home and went online. I went to the usual site where I listen to Tata's song's, and guess what they had it updated. They have all his new songs. Tata knows how to make Anita smile. They updated Aram Asatryan, Charles Aznavor, I think even Cher. And at the bottom they had a new category called Soul- Arthur Ispirian. It's about time they added that category. But I already have the cd, so HA!

I think these photos say it all!

There wasn’t a dull moment this entire weekend. Once again, a Friday to Sunday was spent in Philadelphia. This time the event was the AYF 70th Anniversary Gala with an Entertainment line up that the East Coast has never seen, maybe even the West Coast.

I’ll start from the beginning. We arrived at the hotel Friday night and quickly settled in to get to the dance on time. The starting band was a mix of the Aravod Ensemble, Philly Kef, and Michael Gostanian Ensemble. They started the night with good shoorch bar dancing and as the younger crowd filtered in from all over the East Coast, West Coast and Canada, we knew we were in for a good time. Groups of people drove down in their vans and cars from Montreal, Boston, Albany, Providence, New York, New Jersey, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington. The rest flew in from Chicago, Los Angeles and probably more places that I’m not even aware.

Karnig Sarkissian was the next Ensemble of the night. He sang heghapokhagan songs and it felt like the entire room was often singing along. The dance ended early and the crowds moved up to the rooms and suites for the after hours parties. I caught up with some good friends I feel like I haven’t seen in ages.

Saturday was off to a late start, and unfortunately, I had meetings all day, so I don’t know what happened otherwise until the evening. Doesn’t matter, that’s when the fun started. The evening began with a cocktail hour for special donors. From there, we moved to the serious four course dinner with filet mignon. There were some emotional speeches about the 70 years that made the organization what it is today. With personal stories and jokes, it brought out the sentimentality of the weekend. Not long after, Onnik took the stage. Onnik Dinkjian, John Berberian and an Ensemble of all stars pleased the alumni crowd, the ones who remember AYF days with the sound of an oud and dumbeg and shoorch bars across the dance floor.

Then there was Harout. There were people who traveled from Montreal and LA just for Harout. Well, they got what they wanted. The dance floor was packed like sardines to the point that the groupies at the front just started filling the remaining space on the stage, as you can see in the photo. Everyone was having a good time, and then it all came to a quick end. The big issue was that the dance was too short. Well, things could have been worse.

So we went to the rooms, and what do I find but Harout in the room me and my friends were hanging out in. Somehow, the band migrated up there. They probably regretted it soon after as there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in the room. The night continued in such a random fashion, somehow I ended up driving some of the LA guys (turned East Coast) out to Philly for some Philly Cheese Steaks at 5 am. That’s a story to tell off-line. J And so we made our way back, slept in late and Sunday was the miserable morning after. There was a barbeque, so bunch of us went, stuffed ourselves, looked like zombies, and parted ways. Another weekend in Philly… and the last for a while! Next trips: New York, Armenia and Chicago. Oh yes, I said Armenia…

Well, I'm back from the east, and it was a GREAT break! My cousins and I left early Friday morning. Let me just say, JetBlue airlines is the best. You have Direct-TV, actually everyone has their own. So you could spend 5 hours flipping through channels, or watching the Food Network and TLC the whole way, like we did. Of course a trip wouldn't be a trip for me if SOME kind of adventure wasn't involved. This time, we decided to rent a car from JFK and drive to Philly. What an adventure that was! Of course, we were dumb enough not to follow life lesson # 1 (don't trust anyone) and so we trusted others to give us directions--mistake #1. We headed towards Philly, but to make a long story short, we took almost every highway/tollway/whatever they call them out there--- and ended up in Lebanon, and Lancaster, and Hershey. Needless to say, we were quite frustrated with ourselves, but finally ended up at the hotel and in an hour we were ready to sing along to Karnig. The rest of the trip went quite well, since we used yahoo.com to direct us towards different restaurants in the city, etc.

It was great to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while!

Now I'm getting ready to head out to Jersey again next weekend after thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I bought my Armenia ticket yesterday - so I'm set to go for the holidays.

Other than that, it's just work work work. I discovered something new that I'll be participating in soon... and I'll definitely write about the experience when I'm done.

TSUH!:)~

Hi everybody! I apologize for being so inconsistent with my logs. There is so many things to do concerning school that I barely have time. Today I had a nice little surprise while watching TV. My babushka and I were flipping through the channels looking for something to watch, and I stopped on Queer Eye For the Straight Guy. I constantly hear or see something related to this show, so tonight I decided to watch it. And for those that know the show it is about a few homosexual men that help heterosexual men with fashion, dating, makeovers, and all that jazz. In the episode John B. was the guy being helped, he needed assistance with pretty much everything, especially with proposing to his two year girlfriend. So after dozing out for a good 15 minutes, I tuned back in and now the 5 guys have helped John to set up this tent, and he brings the girl there, runs back into the house and gets the cognac, as well as boxes made out of chocolate(mmmm), filled with raspberries(mmmmmmmmmm), and one with the wedding ring. Okay now this is the best part. The five guys keep commenting on how beautiful the girl is, and how this is a scene out of Casablanca (the 5 guys see everything going on), and then John gets down and proposes. Awwwwwwwww After she says yes, he takes out a piece of paper and reads "Yes Ki Sirem Kezi." SURPRISE! I did not think I heard it right, but then when she corrected him I knew there was no mistake. The girl was Armenian. I had an inkling too by the way! Her nose gave it away. :)) My babu and I were so happy for her. Anyway that is it for now. Poka

A bit of a delayed log here, but, better late than never. The major event in my life lately was my trip to Seville, Spain for the World Music Exposition at the end of October. I met up with a friend of mine, Raffi Bandazian at WOMEX and we went to work trying to find international distribution for our respective CD's. The exposition was held at FIBES, in the outskirts of Seville with the hotel right across the street. The convention center was massive with three separate conventions being held simultaneously. There was WOMEX, the Andalusian tourism convention, and finally the 2003 World Flamenco Festival. The Flamenco Festival was coordinated to coincide with WOMEX. The WOMEX had over 100 different booths with international performers, booking agents, record labels, distributors, you name it converging to do business. The good news for Pomegranate was a distribution deal with a Japanese company and possible deals with distributors in Italy and the Benelux countries. My prime targets were companies in France and the UK. No luck so far.

While WOMEX was happening in one section of the massive complex, I stopped over several times a day to catch live Flamenco on the other side of the building. Three separate shows simultaneously from 11am to 8pm. It was dizzying and luckily, free with my WOMEX badge. So, after a days worth of schmoozing with folks at WOMEX, a little "break" to catch Flamenco was pretty amazing. The nighttime activities included the WOMEX showcases with over 35 concerts spanning three days from 9pm to 3:30am at the tent city of Palenque near the center of town. Among the concerts that I was drawn to was the Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan, Andalusian troubadour Javier Rubial, and Algerian/French singer Amina. There were three separate stages with music going on at the side stages simultaneously and the center stage after the sides were finished. The Europeans know how to party and the Spaniards are gracious hosts.

In Seville, they take Flamenco seriously. During the last night of musical showcases, a torrential rainstorm hit Andalusia. While people were enjoying the raucous shows on Saturday night at Palenque, it suddenly dawned on my that my hotel was about a 20 minute drive from Palenque and that at 2am, it might be a good idea to grab a cab to beat the other 3000 people to the punch. Well, as it turned out, other people had this in mind as well and we ended up walking a mile in the pouring rain searching for a cab. No luck. Let me do the math: 3000 people from about the globe staying at hotels, and maybe about 20-30 cabs at most? Yep, there was a massive shortage. Plus, Sevillian cab drivers don't like to work in the rain. Go figure. So, Bandaz pulls out a move right out of the streets of Yerevan and attempts to stop a regular car on the road. The first car blows past us, but the second car screeches to a stop. Two guys in their early 20's in a Ford Focus jump out and ask us (three of us) what's up. We flash a 20 Euro note and ask if they can take us to our hotel. They wanted to see the money up front and then told us to sit in the back. As we squished in the back, the punkish looking Spaniards floored it and started blowing through red light after red light while turning up the tunes to a Flamenco singer all while lighting up a cigarette. Their gesticulations and singing at the top of their lungs infected the rest of us to grove and clap in the back of the car while the rain was pouring. The poor German girl with us who also spoke Spanish and acted as our translator was horrified. But, anyway, as we gave the punkish Spaniards our approval, the car pulls up to the Hotel and as we get out, they start having an animated talk with the German girl. They waved the 20 Euro note at us and I knew that we were going to get screwed. Frickin' 20 Euros each is what I was figuring. Bandaz was pissed, I was pissed, and then the German girl kept saying "no" to the punks. But then, the car drove away as they bid us farewell and waved their hands out of the car. What did they say, I asked the German? The answer: The punkish Spaniards asked if we had a bill smaller than the 20 Euro as they refused to accept our money, or at least wanted much less thus waving the bill back at us. The reason: the Spaniards noticed that Bandaz and I were so visibly moved by the music playing in the car that the Spaniards said since we like the music so much, they could not accept our money as per Andalusian custom. The singer featured in the car was that of the legendary and deceased El Camaron De La Isla, the greatest Flamenco vocalist of all time and a Gypsy by birth. The Spaniards were Gypsies and were obviously moved by our interest in their musical God. The ghost of El Camaron was with us on a rainy Andausian night.

As I was watching the Armenian channel today, they kept advertising The Burning Tigris by Peter Balakian . I have been hearing many good comments about this book. There was even a caption on it in the New York Times book section. The book is about the Armenian Genocide and America's response to it. It is on my "to-read" list. Following the advertisment was a program about a cd store on Terian, regarding non other than the esteeming Tata Simonyan (whom I dearly love) and his soon to be released cd. Afterwords they showed his new clip. What a wonderful clip!!!!! Later someone told me where to find the duet with Nune Yesayan. I love all his songs old or new.

Tomorrow the Spanish club has a trip scheduled to the Metropolitan Museum for a special exhibition on El Greco. I know for a fact that my Greek friends will gloat about their heritage throughout the entire exhibition. :)) Afterwords we will walk around on 42 st. , and have lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant. I cannot wait, I love the city, and I love my friends, put them together and you have a delightful combination. :) Unfortuneatly I do not think the weather will be so nice tomorrow. Pity. Now that I think of it I have a lot of trips coming up. Jan!

FINALLY THE REDSKINS WON A GAME!!!! After 4 straight games in a row, the Redskins managed to look like a real football team and win against the Seahawks. I know this audience probably doesn't care much about the Redskins, I just wanted to share my joy! My mom hasn't done her Redskins dance in a long time. Today, she danced!

Not much else going on. The other day I went to a breifing on the elections in Azerbaijan, discussing the end of Aliyev's legacy and what the future holds with Ilham Aliyev as the new president after 30 years of his father. It was quite self-critical, focusing on the violence crisis. There was little referrence to the Kharabagh issue and that it is something that needs to be dealt with, but not many statements as to how they should deal with it. A very PC breifing on the issue.

Yesterday I went to see Mystic River, which I recommend to any Sean Penn fans. And a note: Sean Penn is a huge William Saroyan fan and often quotes his poems in his interviews. LOVE him.

Next weekend is AYF 70th Anniversary Gala in Philly!

So the fires are over, and really if you watch the news at all... you start wondering is there a war in the middle east somewhere or in Southern Cali?? There's really a lot going on in L.A., but of course I will only mention a few things. Work is doing pretty well--we're busy. Our new house is still coming along slowly. We are now working on the curtains/blinds department, and my room still has boxes all over it since I haven't had any time to go through everything. This weekend I'll be visiting IKEA one more time to buy some loose end stuff (for example much-needed curtains). The good news is, that 90% of my books are up on my shelves, and it feels nice to sit back and look at my "treasures". But I can't help to wonder...how would i move all my books to Armenia when I move there??? Let's just say I have about 10 times the books Artbridge has... I can open a library! :) (heyyyyyyyyyyy there's an idea!) Another funny thing--and anyone who really knows me will really crack up about this (especially my cousins). During the move, I seemed to have lost one of my shoes...and no I don't mean one pair... ONE SHOE... oor es goshig??? Should I tie a napkin and throw it somewhere in my room and hope the shoe turns up? (hey--don't knock it... it has worked for my remote).

Last weekend I went to SF with 2 friends and my cousin. We had a great time. We spent all day saturday at Napa Valley, visiting the different wineries, and then later doing some shopping in the city (SF). Sunday morning I went to church with my sister ... since she is the choir director there. I hadn't been to church in a while, and hearing the "Hayr Mer" really made me realize what I'm missing. For some reason, though... church in LA isn't quite the same. I'll try to find one that gives me that same feeling. One thing though... how funny that right before the haghortutyun.. everything the Der Hayr said I had done wrong -- he was right on the money! Made me think. So on Sunday evening we went to the Arax Mansurian concert at the Legion of Honor, and unfortunately it wasn't all that I thought it would be. I will leave it at that. But it was interesting nonetheless.

While I was gone, on Nov. 1st the United Human Rights Council organized a "protest" in front of the Dorothy Chandler in Downtown LA, because the government of Turkey was celebrating its 80th anniversary. AYF members were present at the event, outside the Dorothy Chandler passing out fliers to the people attending the event, informing them of the crimes the turkish government has committed against humanity. Well, 2 members had purchased tickets and were inside the event, and under their clothes wore the t-shirt that read, "Turkey: Republic of Inhumanity". Of course once they exposed the t-shirts they were removed from the dinner. The point is that we really educated a lot of the non-Turkish people who were present...and they were very interested and supportive.

Next weekend I'll be flyin' out east for the AYF's 70th anniversary. Just when I needed a break from L.A. -- perfect timing!

TSUH! :)~

It's been a busy few weeks, but I'll try to sum up. Last week we went out just about every night. On Friday I went to Philly again for a halloween party, attended by mostly Armenians. I was dressed as one of the agents from Matrix, and got really hot so the jacket came off. Now I know why guys hate wearing ties.

Saturday we woke up late and a group of us went to an outdoor restaurant on the river that was almost tropical. The weather was so beautiful, I wore a tshirt and was in heaven. That was an very relaxing 3 hour lunch, or whatever it was. While in Philly, I purchased my friend Antranig's new CD, History (www.aravod.com). Antranig plays oud and the CD is just him and a Dhol player, Barrett. I love the combination of the instruments, so I recommend the CD.

I came back to DC Saturday afternoon just in time for the Ani Dance Group performance. I danced with the Sayat Nova Dance Group in Boston once and sadly am extremely critical when it comes to these things, but for a volunteer dance group, they did a good job. There was some modern stuff in there I didn't quite get, but some of the girls dances were beautiful.

Later that night we gave a send off party to Alex, as he headed to LA. It was a good week. The Parliamentarians also returned, but not before they roamed the streets of Georgetown on Halloween night. I hear it was an entertaining night indeed. Let's just say they were "cautioned" not to enter certain bars.

Redskins lost their 4th game in a row and Ramsey (QB) keeps taking the hard hits. God only knows what the rest of the season holds for us.

Did everybody have a nice Halloween? This is one of my favorite holidays, maybe it is because my brother is born on that day, maybe it is seeing little babies in costumes, or maybe it is having the life scared out of me. I can't put my finger on it.

So I began my day dressed as a fairy, with large blue and black wings, and to top off the costume with a bright blue wig. In school there was everyone from Jesus, to Marilyn Manson to a blue fairy (me). :)) Then after school, Student Civic volunteers went to the elementary schools to help with their Halloween parties. I volunteered for my sister's school. My friends and I took her trick-or-treating around the school, and finally convinced her to go into the haunted house. My brother stood inside warning anyone who might go overboard scaring my sister. Then after that we went to the gym for DANCING! I was watching my sister dance to a Latino song...let's just say she put J.Lo to shame.

Afterwards my brother and I ran home, changed, got our friends and went to a Haunted House. I had some good scares. And those people in costume do a great job. Some of them don't even let go, they just keep coming after you. My friends told me to repeat "Jesus loves me." :)) It worked. I had such a fun time. Afterwords we went rock climbing, bumper cars, and on all caruosels. We decided to play pool which was $30 for an hour, and that is a big change from 500 drams in Yerevan. All in all we had a wonderful time, came home had cake, went to bed late only to wake up early today and take the SAT'S. grrrr Well at least the extra section was verbal.